MAX KINGSLEY-JONES / LONDON AND DUBAI
The Airbus A340-500 and Boeing 777-200LR are making ultra-long-haul services a reality. However, the human factor must also be considered
The airline industry's long-held vision of non-stop flights from anywhere to anywhere has moved a step closer in recent months, with the launch of ultra-long-haul (ULR) services using the Airbus A340-500. With Boeing's similarly capable 777-200LR due in service within two years, ULR flights - arbitrarily defined as being greater than 16h in duration - look set to become an increasingly important sector of the "long, thin route" market.
With aircraft and flightcrew, not to mention passengers, successfully being stretched to the limits of their endurance, some believe the industry could eventually achieve the ultimate dream of having an aircraft that never needs to divert, crewed by pilots who operate to ship-like rosters and need never take a long-haul stopover.
Emirates inaugurated direct 14h flights between its Dubai base and Sydney in December with its A340-500s, and will use the three-class 258-seaters to launch its first US services later this year. Although the initial services will be 12h flights to the US East Coast, Emirates later plans to operate direct US West Coast flights to Los Angeles and San Francisco - which will have a duration of more than 16h.
On 3 February, Singapore Airlines (SIA) set a new world distance record for commercial services, when one of its A340-500s inaugurated non-stop services from its Changi airport base in Singapore to Los Angeles (LAX). The 14h 42min flight covered a distance of 14,100km (7,600nm) - 1,000km further than the previous record (Hong Kong to New York Newark). The return leg from LAX to Changi, which is against the winds, takes more than 18h.
SIA will break its own distance record in June, when it launches direct flights from Changi to Newark - a distance of 16,600km westbound and 15,800km eastbound (see graphic). These flights will last around 18h in each direction. To ensure that passengers on these routes are comfortable, SIA has configured its -500s with just 181 seats (compared to Airbus's three-class specification of 313 seats).
With in-flight issues rather than range now the limiting factor in making diversions, Airbus is progressively working through the list to achieve its vision of creating a "never have to divert" environment. "This is our aim, which we can achieve with our four-engine redundancy and by addressing other issues that cause diversions," it says.
Medical help
Airbus believes many diversions can be prevented by equipping the aircraft with on-board medical equipment that can be linked directly to medical centres, and training crews in the use of defibrillators. Equipping the cargo bay with cameras would enable crews to avoid unnecessary diversions due to spurious freight fire warnings, Airbus adds.
So, ultimately, the flightcrew could be the limiting factor. Despite the fact that non-stop sectors in excess of 12h have been relatively commonplace for more than a decade, there is still no industry-wide regulation for flight-crew duty time on ULR flights. In fact, since the introduction of the Boeing 747-400 in 1989 heralded the first regular direct Europe-Asia non-stop sectors, it has been an ongoing task for the Joint Aviation Authorities to draw up a pan-European set of guidelines - so far without success.
With the 747-400's range capability effectively being the yardstick for flight-duty time limits, the A340-500 and 777-200LR would be constrained by current guidelines for flights beyond the -400's 14-15h endurance.
"Airbus and Boeing undertook a joint initiative using the Flight Safety Found-ation [FSF] as their forum, to ensure that the ultra-long-range capability of their new aircraft wasn't constrained," says Emirates senior vice-president flight operations Capt Chris Knowles. "There were three meetings - in Washington DC in 2001, in Paris in 2002 and in Kuala Lumpur in 2003. We participated in all three."
The FSF published its findings in mid-2003 and, with Emirates pioneering A340-500 operations, the GCAA, the UAE's civil aviation authority, has used the results to develop a regulatory guidance document for ULR flights - CAAP14.
"This is designed to be consistent with the findings of the FSF ULR meetings, and describes a method to enable us to operate ULR flights, rather than prescriptive legislation," says Knowles.
Before approval for a ULR mission, the GCAA requires operators to prepare an operational plan for each city pair being considered. Emirates's plan has been developed by its flight operations support department, headed by Brian Miles. The airline is basing its ULR crewing scheme on the UK Civil Aviation Authority's CAP371, which enables the extension of flight duty time through the use of augmented flightcrew to allow crew members to have rest periods in flight.
Generally, flights beyond 8h require a third pilot, while those beyond 12h require that a second crew of two pilots (captain and first officer) relieve the first twocrew and operate the cruise portion of the flight, although specific arrangements are usually subject to agreements between airlines and their unions.
According to Emirates, although the CAP371 document works in general, strict interpretation can create impractical crew complement requirements, particularly if the flight is departing late in the day local time. "So we have worked with the GCAA on CAAP14 to cover certain augmented operations below the 16h ULR level. These are defined as being specific long-range [SLR] operations and are designated in agreement with UAE authorities," says Knowles.
Emirates' initial A340-500 long-range route, between Dubai and Sydney, falls below the ULR limit and therefore its operational plan is based on the SLR requirements of CAAP14, says Knowles. "The operational approval process for ULR and SLR flights is the same, although obviously the scope of work required for ULR missions is more demanding," says Knowles. He adds that the operational plan will be subject to refinement and change based on operational experience and feedback.
Augmented crew
Until the arrival of the A340-500, Emirates' longest flights were 10-12h sectors such as those between Dubai and Osaka and Perth. These are operated by an augmented crew comprising three pilots. "For the SLR and later ULR flights, we operate with four pilots - two captains and two first officers - one operating crew and one augmenting crew," says Knowles.
Following the take-off flown by the operating crew, the augmenting crew rest for several hours. They then relieve the operating crew who rest, before returning to the flightdeck for descent and landing. Each crew is allocated around 5h rest during the flight, of which at least 3h is "horizontal" .
Emirates A340-500s are equipped with a flightcrew rest compartment in the bulk cargo hold in the rear fuselage. Two bunks are provided to enable pilots to take "horizontal rest", as required by CAAP14, during specified rest periods. The compartment is equipped with humidifiers to increase the humidity from 5% to 25% to improve the atmosphere for rest.
Unlike other human conditions, such as inebriation, "it is difficult to measure how tired you are", says Knowles. Rest requirements have been drawn up in conjunction with Emirates Group aviation medicine specialists, including the head of the airline's clinic Dr Ian Hosegood.
"We make sure crews have enough sleep before commencing an SLR/ULR flight - advising that they have two complete local nights off duty before the flight - and we roster one rest day after the flight and a day off before operating another trip," says Knowles. In comparison, the off-duty time between normal trips could be just 12h. A similar rest requirement is stipulated for cabin crew.
Stricter regulations
Emirates also specifies that if the Sydney-bound flight, which is scheduled to depart at 10:15 local time, is delayed beyond 14:00, then a replacement flightcrew is required. With the Sydney flight's departure scheduled at 21:50 local, delays of more than 2h will generally be held until the following day due to the airport's night-time curfew, and a replacement crew will be required.
There are also stricter regulations for standby flightcrew, with the requirement that any pilot called up for an SLR/ULR flight will have begun standby duty not more than 2h before the planned departure. It is also the intent that such crew will meet the pre-flight off-duty and rest requirements mentioned earlier.
As part of its operational plan, Emirates provides advice to pilots on how best to adjust their body clocks depending on their function on the flight, and to "de-synchronise" the body clocks of the operating and augmenting crews so that they are tired at different times.
The airline's medical staff have timed each crew's rest periods, where possible, to coincide with their window of circadian low, in other words the body clock time when propensity to sleep is higher (ie the main window of 24:00-07:00 and smaller window between 14:00 and 17:00). During the flight, each crew is advised to either avoid or drink caffeine at certain times, depending on their rest requirements.
Feedback
Emirates's safety department has set up a steering committee to review feedback from the crews on SLR and ULR flights, which has input from the group's medical department. The committee is providing summaries of the feedback to the GCAA, along with descriptions of any action or changes implemented.
SIA operates its A340-500 ULR flights along similar lines to Emirates using ULR regulations that have been issued by the Singapore civil aviation authority, CAAS. The airline is undertaking a detailed study of crew fatigue and alertness on its ULR flights in conjunction with the European Committee for Aircrew Scheduling and Safety (ECASS) and New Zealand's Massey University - the latter has already been involved in a Boeing study into pilot fatigue on 777 ferry flights with SIA pilots. The ULR study's findings will be used to validate the CAAS's ULR regulations, and possibly to modify them.
The airline declined to be interviewed by Flight International about its ULR operations as it is currently involved in negotiations with its pilot unions over broader pay and conditions issues, but has provided some outline details of procedures. SIA reached agreement with its pilots on crewing arrangements for the A340-500s in January.
Following the example of Emirates, flights are operated with two sets of crew, each consisting of a captain and first officer. Each pilot has the opportunity of having two rest periods in the A340-500's crew rest compartment, says SIA, taking turns to rest for about 3-4h each time.
"According to SIA company policy one of the rest periods must be more than 4h," says William Teng, industrial secretary at the pilot's union ALPA-S.
SIA has provided guidelines and routines to enable its flightcrews to endure ULR flight operations. "Crews are being trained on in-flight rest/sleep management, circadian rhythm disruptions, alertness management, fatigue countermeasures and stress management," says the airline.
According to Teng, the tests into mental alertness use electro encephalogram (EEG) machines, which measure brain waves to create an electro-encephalograph. He adds that SIA may change its ULR procedures depending on the outcome of the CAAS/Massey University research.
The CAAS carried out an initial study last year, and the latest investigation, which began with SIA's launch of revenue ULR flights on 3 February, is due to end in July. The authority says that there are several prongs to the evaluation, starting with a pilot's diary: "This will enable the pilots to record individually their rest/duty cycle and sleepiness/alertness scales," it says.
Sleep quality
Crews will also participate in actigraphy studies, wearing devices on their wrist to measure sleep quality, as well as performance measurements using vigilance and tracking tests - "vigtrack". Polysomnogra- phy will also be undertaken, which is the scientific evaluation of sleep.
A polysomnograph converts electrical impulses into a graphical representation to understand what is happening to the body during sleep. Bodily activities are monitored including brain waves, eye movements, muscle activity, heartbeat, blood oxygen levels and respiration. An interim report is due for completion in April.
SIA's cabin crew are also undergoing a ULR fatigue management training programme. The Los Angeles flights are serviced by 14 cabin crew, with each member given around 4-5h rest on each flight. "They will take turns to rest and will manage their rest periods among themselves," says the airline.
"We've still got a lot to learn about how to deal with ULR flights," says Emirates' Knowles. "For example where is the best place to locate the crew rest area, or what sort of lighting helps? The time-zone changes are in fact more of an issue than flight duration itself."
Emirates president Tim Clark has a long-term vision for the industry that could eliminate this time-zone problem. He believes that the next generation of long-range airliners, such as the proposed 650-seat Airbus A380-900 stretch, could be equipped with the ultimate in on-board crew rest facilities, including showers, enabling pilots to operate the aircraft using a shift pattern similar to a ship's roster.
"Crews could operate ultra-long haul flights to a 4h-on/4h-off pattern, and when they get to the destination, they'd turn around and fly back without need to acclimatise to different time zones," he says.
And Clark has a simple solution to winning the pilots over to his plan: "The savings generated by not having to put crews up would be given back to them in their pay packet," he says.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY LEITHEN FRANCIS IN SINGAPORE
Source: Flight International
