Flight Lesson 1: How to fly a Boeing 747-400 (Brief description)

1.You begin by making sure the plane is fully loaded with fuel, all the cargo has been put into the belly of the plane, passengers and crew (obviously) have boarded and all exits securely locked.



2. Turn on your anti-collision, navigation and any lights needed according to the time of the day. At the same time request clearance to taxi from the control tower.


3. Once you have received clearance, start pushback and ignite engines one by one. when all engines are running and your taxi way is clear of all ground equiptment and staff, you may begin taxing to the runway. But before that, set flaps to position 4 or around 20 degrees for takeoff. bear in mind that the usage of flaps are always determined by the weight of the aircraft and the weather condition.


4. Taxi at around 20 knots until you reached your approved departure runway. Upon approaching, request clearance from the control tower once again for permission to depart. When clear, line up on the runway.


5. Instruct cabin crew to be seated at their stations. Start by spooling the engines to around 60% of N1. Once all 4 engines are stable, increase thrust to around 98% of N1. At around 140 knots, you have reached V1. This is the decision point to whether or not you'll continue flying or abort take off. At about 152 knots, you have reached V2, YOU MUST ROTATE!



6. Climb at a comfortable rate of 2200ft/min. At about 175 knots, start retracting the flaps to 15 degrees. Continue climbing and adding speed. At around 220 knots, retract flaps to 5 degrees. Reduce thrust to about 80% of N1 once you have reached 250 knots and fully retract flaps. You are now flying at around 250 knots/ hour under 10000 feet. This is DCA requirement. DO NOT OVERSPEED or your clearance may be revoked.


TO BE CONTINUED ...