Pulsating

Posted on November 5, 2009 by Helena Kaartinen |

sweatWe have readers! Now I am absolutely sure of it… despite the fact that my mother doesn’t have a computer.

I had a flight to Istanbul. During the evening rush, our aircraft was parked at a distance, so the passengers were brought to it by bus.

I stood at the door and wished them welcome. A tricky moment cropped up when my phone rang. It was my Finnair phone, the one I use to communicate with the gate attendant and vice versa. Answering the phone and welcoming passengers at the same time, however, is rather difficult. It’s not worth nodding at a phone, because it does not offer visual contact – at least yet. But if you are speaking on the phone, I guess you simply have to welcome the passengers by nodding? It results in perspiration and a rise in heart beat. But only slightly and briefly.

There were nearly 100 passengers. Americans on a business trip from Japan via Helsinki, now heading to Turkey for a sailing holiday. I guess it’s true that Americans like a challenge, because these ones had already managed to pop into Hong Kong before visiting Japan. USA-HKG-TYO-HEL-IST! It’s exhausting just to think of it. To me, the idea of so much travelling was like a hundred press-ups. Followed perhaps by a hundred sit-ups. Respect!

Service proved to be a flight aerobics session. My work partner is an gymnastics instructor and that was pretty obvious. A brisk step, good posture and slightly sporty. I followed the series of movements using coffee pots as hand weights. I bent to the left and bent to the right. Kinetic pleasure and rising pulse. I was so much into it that in business class I clipped a customer’s serving tray. A glass or two toppled as I tried to adjust the tray to allow him to finish his meal in peace. My temperature rose. Embarrassing. I felt a drop of sweat trickle down my back. I apologised for my beginner’s blunder, saying that I wasn’t exactly new to this work.

The passenger said consolingly: “Oh yes, we know that this isn’t your first flight. In fact we almost acquaintances. We have ordered your blogs as an RSS feed to our e-mail.” His neighbour nodded in agreement.

What? I imagined how their computers bleeped on the arrival of e-mail and how on opening the messages the blogs were theirs to read.

I gave a nervous laugh. It was no longer a question of a few drops generated by my thermoregulation system. I was sweating like a river. Amazon, anyone? And, no thanks. It’s no worth sending me deodorants, antiperspirants or hormone treatments, because this was a pleasant experience. My friends inform me that such perspiration is a heightened emotional state caused by a strong sense of wellbeing, where the blood rushes in the veins and the heart beats accordingly at precisely the right rate.

A rewarding discussion followed; on the service offered in Finnair and elsewhere in the world. It was fascinating to hear genuine, honest opinions. It is important to hear them. It’s good to learn from listening. This was my effort at so-called mental training, the importance of which in raising performance level should not be underestimated.

In Istanbul I opened the aircraft door with a steady, restful pulse. Proudly I sent the men out into the world.

I then began to check the seat pockets and overhead lockers for any items that passengers may have left behind. This served as a warm-up exercise for the return flight.

Helena Kaartinen

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Finnair – 86 years young

Posted on October 30, 2009 by Runway |

Aero Junkers F13 in 1924Fast forward to the beginning of the Finnair story. On November 1st, 1923, consul Bruno Lucander founded a pioneering company called Aero. As soon as the following year Aero made its first flight from Helsinki to Tallinn using a 4-passenger Junkers F13 aircraft, equipped with skis in winter and floats in summer.

We no longer land on skis, but we operate with one of the world’s most modern fleets. Our airline is now 86 years old, but we are in tune with the times in terms of both aircraft and attitude. Today Finnair’s scheduled traffic covers 9 long-haul destinations in Asia and New York in North America, as well as more than 40 city destinations in Europe.

Building the bridge between Europe and Asia has been the aim of the expanding Finnair – a strategy supported by Finland’s favorable geographical position: the shortest and most eco-efficient route from Europe to Asia passes via Helsinki. Our modern fleet with the Airbus A340 and A330 wide-bodied aircraft carries us far into the future.

And behind us is a long and distinguished past. Finnair, 86 years old on November 1st, is one of the world’s longest-established airlines.

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Brief guide to haggling

Posted on October 21, 2009 by senjalarsen |

100_euroaAs leisure trips to distant destinations take off during the winter schedule, you will often be transported to another financial culture. In many Finnair destinations haggling is still an essential part of the culture. A skilled haggler knows the rules and is able to strike the right note necessary to make a good deal. Here is how:

1. Familiarize yourself first. Before you buy anything, always make a tour, examine items and ask for prices in a number of shops to get an idea of the price range.

2. Haggling is a social event. Be cheerful, friendly and maintain a good atmosphere, but always keep a poker face. Don’t show any great interest in the object you are hoping to buy. Ask the price of a few other products first and only then casually approach the item in which you are interested.

3. If you buy several items at a time, you get a bigger discount. Every product and all seams, buttons and joints should be examined carefully. If you find a defect, this will entitle you to an additional discount. With clothes you can often detect bad quality from the reverse side or by the fact that a label has been glued and not sewn on to the fabric.

4. Before you start negotiating a deal, consider what you are prepared to pay for the object. Don’t quibble over pennies, however.

5. An excellent help is a pocket calculator as this will enable private haggling. In front of a large crowd of onlookers you’ll receive a worse price, because preserving face is important in many cultures.

6. Ask the seller to offer the first price. If the answer is “what would you like to pay”, ask again. Your counter offer will depend on the price level: it could even be a quarter of the figure quoted by the seller. But if you offer too low a price, the seller will notice that he is dealing with a beginner (see point 1). The seller and the buyer offer prices in turn, until a price is reached at which both parties are satisfied. When you begin to get close to a price, you can ask for a final offer, “last price”. If the price is acceptable, it is time to buy. If not, then you can continue on your way without worries.

7. You can test the seller’s final price by walking away. If there is still scope for haggling, the seller will come after you and make a new offer. If you are allowed to depart undisturbed, the price was too low. At this point you should humbly return to the stall – if you really want the item.

8. Don’t start haggling if you are not interested in buying. There is no compulsion to buy, however, even though you start to haggle – except at the stage when you have offered a price, which the seller accepts. You should never offer a price that you are not prepared to pay.

9. You should have local cash to pay with, because cards are often not accepted. Where haggling takes place, the prices quoted are usually for cash.

10. A good and fair haggler is respected. For example Indians and Chinese are old trading people and are highly skilled in business. Often the first question is: “What country are you from?” This is because Europeans are known to be bad hagglers. Australians and Americans are more careful with their money.

Senja Larsen

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Landing in fog

Posted on October 21, 2009 by Jussi Ekman |

sumuQuick the virgin of the vapours,
Breathed a fog upon the waters,
Made it settle on the warship
Of the heroes of the Northland,
Held the minstrel, Väinämöinen,
Anchored in the fog and darkness.*

In my previous blogs, I covered the topics of instrument flying, locating an airport with radio waves, the autopilot and airport equipment. All these play a role when we make a landing at an airport in foggy weather. This is how we do it.

If we are flying to a destination airport commonly affected by fog, this is taken into account during flight planning. Generally, landing in thick fog, namely a CAT III procedure, slightly increases the time it takes for landing aircraft to clear the runway, so the full capacity of the airport in terms of traffic numbers is not available. Often this means waiting on the ground at the airport or in the air in a holding pattern close to the destination airport.

For this, “extra” fuel is carried along just in case. During the flight we monitor the development of the weather. Before descending from cruising level, information on the approach and the landing runway is loaded into the flight management systems. In addition, we go through the details and performance of the approach procedure.

Before starting the approach, we check that the aircraft and airport equipment are functioning perfectly and make sure that the airport is applying low visibility procedures and that the visibility is at least 75 metres. Seats are adjusted to ensure that the visual segment from the cockpit is optimal. With Finnair, when the RVR (runway visual range) is below 400 metres, the captain always does the flying while the first officer, on the captain’s right, focuses on monitoring the flight instruments.

On reaching the initial approach altitude, the aircraft’s speed is already low enough to ensure that we can gradually deploy the landing configuration (leading and trailing edge devices that improve lift). Generally through instructions given by the radar controller, sometimes by navigating independently, we reach the Instrument Landing System (ILS) localiser. The checklist for landing has already been performed and both autopilots can be armed by the captain for the approach.

The autopilot captures the localiser and turns onto the final track. A little later the glide slope is captured. Often the landing gear will be deployed at this point. Landing lights are often kept off in low visibility, because they are dazzling, rather like a car’s full headlights in fog.

By viewing the distance measuring equipment 10 km away from the runway, or with the aid of a radio beacon, we check at around 500 metres height that the glide slope is correct.

The first officer checks that the final approach checklist is ready, and the captain asks the cabin crew to be seated with seat belts fastened for landing.

At 300 metres height at the latest the aircraft should be stabilised: in addition to the flight path, the vertical speed, thrust setting and aircraft configuration must be such that the autopilot can remain on the ILS beam. In the event of a malfunction after this altitude, the approach will be abandoned for a new approach attempt. Let’s continue this Airbus automatic landing, however.

At around 100 metres height we check that the autopilot’s internal logic has detected no faults and that it has advanced to LAND mode. At 30 metres height – if all the preconditions still hold – the captain decides to land by stating: “Landing”. The runway is only a couple of hundred metres away – the captain gazes outwards, but the runway may not yet be visible.

The first officer continuously monitors the automatic systems and announces “FLARE” when the autopilot shifts from LAND mode to FLARE mode. The aircraft’s audio system fetches information from the radioaltimeter and reads aloud the radioaltimeter values. Without glancing at the altimeter, the pilots receive the distance of the main gear from the surface of the runway to within an accuracy of metres.

At around six metres height the audio system says “RETARD”, which urges the captain to pull back the thrust levers, thus ensuring that the engines are idling.

The aircraft typically touches the runway surface at a speed of around 240 km/h. The captain obtains the first visual signs of the runway at the same time as he engages the engine jet blast, namely thrust reversers, to slow the landing roll-out. The sound of the engines changes slightly at this point.

The first officer monitors the deployment of the spoilers, checks the thrust reversers and the operation of automatic braking: “SPOILERS, REVERSE GREEN, DECEL”.

The captain’s eyes are on the centreline of the runway, whose individual lights disappear under the radome one after another. When the first officer states that the speed has slowed to around 150 km/h, the captain disengages the thrust reversers and the engines are idling once again.

With a light touch of a pedal, the captain switches from automatic braking to manual. Moreover, with a press of a button on the left-hand control stick, the “AUTOPILOT COMES OFF”. The captain’s left hand moves to the tiller situated next to the control stick, which is used to turn the nose gear.

The green and yellow centreline lights guide the aircraft off the runway. The first officer reports to the tower that the aircraft has cleared the active runway. A routine landing has taken place. In fact it is only now that the most demanding stage of the flight begins: taxiing in thick fog following the airport signs to the aircraft parking place.

For the take-off back to Helsinki, visibility of at least 125 metres is required. The higher visibility requirement is due to the fact that take-off is always performed manually and, in the event of an engine failure before a certain decision speed, there must be enough visibility to allow the captain to abort the take-off on the remaining length of runway. But perhaps we’ll leave that subject for another time…

With his sword he smote the billows,
From his magic blade flowed honey;
Quick the vapour breaks, and rises,
Leaves the waters clear for rowing;
Far extend the sky and waters,
Large the ring of the horizon.*

Wishing you a clear and bright autumn,
Jussi Ekman

*Extracts from the Kalevala, Finland’s national epic. Translation by John Martin Crawford (1888).

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Choosing an airline can be eco-smart

Posted on October 12, 2009 by katiihamaki |

lentokonelogo_vihreaNo-one can be in any doubt that air transport generates emissions. Aviation is responsible for 2–3 per cent of all manmade carbon emissions. Of the environmental impact caused by an airline, 95 per cent consists of engine emissions. The most important environmental action an airline can take is to invest in new fleet.

The average age of the Finnair fleet is six years. At the beginning of next year, moreover, the final old-technology Boeing MD-11 aircraft will leave the fleet. This means that our entire long-haul fleet will then represent the latest and best technology, also in terms of emissions.

When customers decide to travel by air, their choice of airline can be an “eco-smart” decision. Choosing an airline with a new fleet is an eco-smart decision, because each new generation of aircraft produces around 20 per cent less emissions than its predecessor. We are therefore proud of our new, efficient fleet.

Our advertisements emphasise the importance of this decision. This is no greenwash; it represents concrete action on the part of the airline to reduce emissions.

Customers can also compare routes using our calculator, which is based on the actual fuel consumption of our flights instead of simply measuring the distance flown. For us it is sensible to use a calculator that takes into account improvements in aircraft fuel economy, the efficiency of Helsinki-Vantaa as an airport, and aircraft weight-reduction measures we have taken.

Customers can also make important decisions when planning their travel route. A direct flight, for example, is not always the best option, especially if the flying distance is very long. Then it is more sensible to make a stopover.

On flights from Western Europe to Asia, Helsinki is the ideal stopover point. When travelling, for example, from London or Paris to Asian destinations, making a stopover in Helsinki does not increase emissions compared with flying direct. To many destinations, a stopover even reduces emissions. Only on flights to Bangkok and Delhi does a stopover slightly increase emissions.

Furthermore, Helsinki-Vantaa is an uncongested, efficient transit airport. The use of three runways reduces emissions arising from traffic congestion and holding patterns. London Heathrow, for example, only uses two runways.

A passenger’s most important decision, however, is to fly in the right direction. When flying from a city that has no direct flight to the destination, it is worth choosing an airline whose stopover point lies on the route. This is another aspect that we want to emphasise in our communications.

Kati Ihamäki

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The autopilot is the aircraft’s eyes in the fog

Posted on October 9, 2009 by Jussi Ekman |

aamu-usvaHow does a pilot cope when ground visibility gets really bad?

With the onset of autumn, nights become cooler and moisture condenses: fog, smog, mist, haar, haze! But with the modern equipment now available perhaps only stardust would prove to be impenetrable.

Even nowadays, however, many aircraft types and airlines require visual contact with the runway, making landing in the thickest fog impossible. The newspaper headline “Air traffic disrupted by fog” is not unusual. Landing in the thickest fog is indeed possible, however. This is facilitated by airport procedures and the aircraft’s automatic flight control system – namely the autopilot.

Automation releases pilot capacity for decision making for safe landing from actual aircraft handling. It has been possible to land by autopilot since the 1960s. Finnair has used autolands since April 1965 – among the first airlines in the world to do so. Nevertheless, it has only in recent decades been considered safe to land without visual contact with the runway. Finnair’s Airbus fleet, for example, is officially certified for such landings. Faster air data computers in aircraft and improved accuracy of navigation instruments have made this possible.

Landing without visual contact demands much of the airport, the aircraft and the crew.

Pilots are trained in low visibility procedures on a totally separate training course, which covers the workings of the Instrument Landing System (ILS), runway markings, lights and signs, meteorology, aircraft systems and possible malfunctions, obstacle clearances, standard operating procedures, and operating procedures in the case of malfunctions (in ground facilities and/or in the aircraft).

Simulators provide an extremely realistic environment for practising normal operating procedures as well as malfunctions. Before pilots advance to performing these landings in practice, they must have solid experience of their type of aircraft. Furthermore, an official regulation decrees that low visibility procedures are practised and reviewed at least once a year in an inspection flight using a simulator.

When all of the above-mentioned requirements are fulfilled and the authorities have approved the procedure, the pilot can make a CAT III B no DH approach and landing (Category III B, no decision height). Then the cloud base is not significant, but a runway visual range of 75 metres is required. This visibility requirement ensures that the pilot will find the taxiway and clear the runway after landing.

If each condition is not fulfilled in its entirety, a higher cloud base and visibility (CAT I-III A) are required.

Negotiating a landing in fog has therefore nothing to do with a pilot’s courage. Rather it requires certain equipment on the ground and on the aircraft, and also for the pilot to have the required experience and expertise.

Jussi Ekman

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Oiling the wheels of Finnair’s production

Posted on October 5, 2009 by Runway |

A340_moottoriThe new integrated Flight Traffic organisation that starts its work in Finnair on 1st October has been formed from the company’s scheduled passenger traffic and leisure flight operations.

As a new member of the Executive Board, I will be responsible for ensuring that Finnair’s flights are operated safely, economically and punctually. It sounds simple, but this goal is actually very complex and highly challenging.

Currently our organisation employs Finnair’s 800 pilots and around 400 cabin staff. In addition to flight operations, we are also responsible for arranging ground functions that support traffic, maintaining the airworthiness of our fleet, and cooperating with the authorities on flight permit issues.

Our route network control centre (NCC) monitors the company’s traffic at all times and is responsible for managing traffic changes. The NCC’s work not only safeguards our passengers’ connections but is also decisively important for the company’s financial result. Traffic irregularities carry a big price tag.

Work in the control centre is conducted at a brisk tempo and demands high professional expertise, as well as a capacity to work under extreme pressure. Although Finnair is one of Europe’s most punctual airlines, every day we encounter challenging situations in which we have to switch aircraft, make reroutings and find new staff for flights at short notice. Decisions are made quickly and often at difficult times of the day in terms of the crew availability.

How well we succeed and the quality of our work are reported in the media from time to time. A further challenge is presented by the fact that our aircraft currently fly in 16 different time zones. Annually we operate around 45,000 return flights.

The operational cornerstones of my organisation can be summed up in three words: safety, economy and punctuality.

In relation to quality and reliability, Finnair has achieved a level that is currently at the top of our sector and which withstands comparison with all of our main competitors.

At the same time, however, the company has regrettably underperformed in terms of key production factors, especially in productivity of work and capital resources.

The challenge is now to improve both the use of the aircraft fleet and the work productivity of personnel. From an operational perspective, there is simply no other remedy for improving competitiveness.

In addition to maximising use of resources, we have set ambitious targets for the continuous development of flight economy.

We are spurred on towards these targets by a major external factor: the high prices of oil and jet fuel. We also been working for a long time now on developing flying and approach methods aimed at cutting the fuel consumption of aircraft. We have succeeded in this, and at the same time we have borne our responsibility for environmental issues, too. Our modern fleet is economical and it adversely affects our environment as little as possible.

Finnair flight operations’ use of resources has traditionally been divided into two areas: scheduled passenger services and leisure traffic. Traffic has been handled partly with shared and partly with separate aircraft and crew.

The goal of the new organisation is to create a foundation for structural efficiencies by standardising scheduled and leisure traffic and traffic planning while at the same time increasing cross-utilisation of resources, particularly where our aircraft fleet is concerned.

The number of leisure trips made each winter from Finland has been continually growing for decades now. In our strategically key Europe-Asia traffic, on the other hand, the peak of demand occurs in the summer season. This presents opportunities for improving the use of the fleet, thereby minimising the impact of the traditionally quieter traffic periods. An aircraft is a factory that produces only when it is in the air. That’s why its efficient use is vital also from a financial standpoint.

The intention is also to lengthen the traffic planning period to enable productivity to be improved more effectively than it has to date and to remove overlapping functions in the organisation.

The Finnair world of flying is therefore not yet ready, but we have rolled up our sleeves and started working towards a better tomorrow.

I am confident that Finnair has what it takes to operate in today’s competitive environment, when we have all members of the team pulling in the same direction. In this respect the challenges are not inconsiderable, but problems are there to be solved.

I believe that the gravity of the economic situation and the inappropriateness of old attitudes for today’s competitive situation have also been understood in the air transport sector’s employee organisations, which have traditionally focused on the robust defence of their interests. Adjustment measures are painful but necessary to ensure the continuity of operations.

Although a significant part of the work of the Production unit takes place behind a closed door on the flight deck or otherwise in support services unseen by customers, I even so consider customer-orientation to be extremely important. We exist to serve air travellers.

To our passengers, our work is evident as safe and punctual flights to wherever Finnair’s blue and white wings carry our aircraft around the world.

Erno Hildén
The writer is Finnair’s SVP, Operations as of 1 October.

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Lost in translation

Posted on October 1, 2009 by Helena Kaartinen |

smiles
 
“I can’t’,” I replied to an Indian colleague, who asked me to a Bollywood dance class he was giving. My friend smiled and said: “It’s all in the mind!” What? A mental problem, if my hips won’t move? Had I now revealed something about myself? To disguise my problems, I headed off to the class and danced Bollywood style with a folk dance–polka–tango mix. So it goes.

Then I happened to read an interview with a professional dancer, who said that he could determine much about a person’s character by the way they walked. I straightened myself up and made my way, with practised nonchalance, to a book shop, where I purchased Henrik Fexeus’ book “The Art of Mind Reading”.

But whose thoughts would I read? My family would serve as guinea pigs. It’s true that without the book I would still have guessed that it’s pretty much a lie (a whopper actually) when a teenage boy heads out for the evening with a backpack and answers the question “What’s in the pack?” with a broad smile: “It’s OK Mum! Just some lemonade for the boys!” The young man’s body language and expression, on the other hand, say otherwise. Or perhaps it’s simply because I haven’t seen him drink lemonade for years.

In the middle of the book, the writer wishes that the reader would turn back to the beginning. But wishes don’t always come true, and I read on. I was in such a hurry to make some mind-reading interpretations for my flights. How would turning back to the beginning of the book have helped? I’ve no idea, but I soon encountered some serious interpretation problems.

Conditions onboard aircraft impose tight restrictions on your body movements – when walking, for example. When entering and leaving an aircraft, you’re basically forced to queue, which leaves little scope for expansive, grand movements or expressions of individuality. During a flight, the slightest swing of the hips (Bollywood style) while walking down the aisle is soon blocked by the adjacent armrests. Then pain-inspired frowns are easy to interpret.

When I’m with a trolley on the aisle and there’s a passenger hopping up and down behind me, I’m pretty sure why they’re hopping, and it’s not aerobic exercise. When customers urgently need to pass the trolley, their facial expressions reflect their degree of urgency. For example, they may grind their teeth with lips open wide, accompanied by the hiss of inward breathing. Now that’s really urgent.

On the aisle I also encounter smiling faces. Although the body language is restrained by a seat belt, I see smiles extending all the way to the eyes. I don’t want to discover new interpretations for these. I want them to mean what they seem. They are encouraging. They mean good. They are important to me.

I imagine the smiles to communicate satisfaction. But not everyone smiles so sweetly. On one long-haul flight, on business class customer did not smile once during eight hours. OK, so she did look me in the eye when I served her. But a smile? No. I was pretty sure she was dissatisfied with our service.

Towards the end of the flight, she rang the call bell. I crept sheepishly toward her. The woman wanted me to know that this was the best flight ever! I broke into a smile. But she didn’t. I wondered whether in her case it was a similar kind of problem to me and my Bollywood dancing? All in the mind; that you can’t or won’t reveal too much.

Interpreting body language and reading thoughts are clearly best left to the professionals. Despite my great enthusiasm and interest in the subject, I still obtain the most reliable information from words.
 
Once, when I was serving food, a male passenger looked at the plate and said: “NO MEAT! NO CHICKEN!” Then after a moment’s pause, he continued: “I AM A  VEGETABLE!”
 
I would never have guessed.
 

Helena Kaartinen

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We serve our customers

Posted on September 28, 2009 by Runway |

palveluFinnair’s customer service functions will operate as one organisation from 1st October. It is therefore an opportune time to introduce myself to our customers. We do all we can to make your journeys as enjoyable as possible.

The new organisation consists of all the interfaces in Finnair’s service chain where flight passengers encounter our company. The key areas are cabin, customer and telephone service.

Until now, Finnair’s customer service functions have been fragmented into different units. Our customers’ experience of service, of course, is made up of every contact with Finnair’s different functions, but the new structure will answer the challenges more quickly and efficiently, when we are better able to examine and develop service as a whole.

Competition is intense and in the future it will be increasingly important for Finnair to listen to and understand its customers. Because who after all is more aware of when service is good than our customers themselves? We also want Finnair’s service to stand out from that of our competitors through positive service experiences.

We recognise the importance of agreeable and efficient service. From the perspective of the service provider and particularly the business standpoint, it is also essential that service processes have been described and that success can be measured to ensure consistent high quality. Moreover, it is essential that service is provided efficiently and that its costs are known.

Environmental awareness is certainly becoming an increasingly important part of choosing an airline. The consumer of the future will also be more price conscious and more willing to make new choices. To us this is a challenging equation, as an airline’s product is priced in an open market where competition for customers never stops.

Part of good service is also the intangible, emotional experience that is difficult to put into words. Finnair’s present high quality service culture has been formed over decades. Now, through our new organisation, we want to develop further in order to answer the challenges of the future.

One of our key goals is get things right the first time round. In this way, we create the foundation for customers to return to our aircraft again and again. Furthermore, I also consider it important to listen to the feedback gathered about our service. This is the only way to continuously improve our customer service.

Some of our customers have taken a liking to the fast and efficient self-service options that enable them to avoid queuing at customer service points. While in the near future we want to take full advantage of the opportunities presented by automation, we also still want to preserve that important personal touch and atmosphere.

Above all I hope that you, as customers, feel you are welcome every time you step on a Finnair aircraft. Or when you contact us, I want you to feel that we are truly listening and taking good care of you.

Finnair constantly conducts opinion surveys among its flight passengers so that we can answer our challenges as well as possible. In future, too, we will listen closely to what our customers have to say!

You are most welcome to fly with us.

Timo Riihimäki
The writer is Finnair’s Senior Vice President, Customer Service as of 1 October 2009.

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Flight instruments measure where we fly

Posted on September 24, 2009 by Jussi Ekman |

landing5

One of the most basic items on the lesson list for all trainee pilots is the use of Flight instruments. When you’re in the clouds, you can lose track of your own – and your aircraft’s – attitude in a matter of seconds if you only trust your instincts.

Instrument flying is based on continuous practice and on the unshakeable belief that the instruments are showing the real figures, not ones that have been guessed at.

The various flight instruments show speed, artificial horizon, altitude, turn and slip, and compass and vertical speed data. In addition, of course, the cockpit contains engine instruments, as well as displays for the control of navigation and systems and all kinds of other apparatus.

In the most modern passenger aircraft, digital technology and displays have made it possible to combine many of these different functions, but the basic principles of instrument flying are the same as ever. It’s based on monitoring a variety of information and using it to keep desired attitude and navigate, which is why pilots require the ability to multi-task and put many skills into practice at the same time.

To mitigate for the unlikely event of instrument failure or error, several instruments of the same kind are required as well as a system that gathers data from different sources. The modern-day pilot also most likely receives automatic warnings if an instrument is faulty.

There are three separate and independent instrument systems on the latest passenger aircraft: one for the captain, one for the first officer, and one ‘emergency’ system.

So modern flying continues to be a combination of automation and human piloting skills, in which the instrument functions are confirmed three times over and continuously monitored by two pilots, not just one. Another example of how safety is ensured to the maximum possible degree.

Safe flying is based on the good training of the pilots and the technical condition of the aircraft. But the airport’s equipment is also vital.

Aircraft fly continuously in different weather conditions, which means that it is important to obtain continuously updated information on what the weather is like at the destination airport: wind, visibility, cloud base, precipitation, dew point, air pressure. In low visibility, an RVR device (Runway Visual Range) measures visibility to an accuracy of metres.

The most important instrument for approach and automatic landing is the ILS (Instrument Landing System).

A localiser antenna, which transmits radio signals to the right and left of the centreline of the runway, is located on the threshold at the opposite end of the runway. These signals ‘draw’ an extension of the runway into the sky.

At the side of the runway, at a distance of around 300 metres from the threshold, there is a glideslope antenna array, which like the localiser ‘draws’ the correct approach angle for the runway. This angle is rather gentle – only around three degrees.

In addition to the ILS, on the final track there is a radio beacon or distance display by which the aircraft can check that it is approaching at the correct altitude. In addition to navigation equipment, the runway also has painted markings, signboards and strong lights.

Lights on the approach line, the edge of the runway, the centreline and the touchdown zone help the pilot observe the aircraft’s true location when landing and also help the pilot exit the runway.

In addition to all this equipment, airports are also required to employ low visibility procedures in visibility of less than 400 metres. Such procedures ensure that the equipment will function in the event of incidents, i.e. for example that a back-up energy source is available and that the movement of aircraft and ground equipment is monitored and controlled.

Because the air-traffic controller may not be able to see out from the air-traffic control tower in bad weather, traffic movements in the airport area are best tracked using surface movement radar. Many air-traffic control and other airport employees therefore require training in low visibility procedures. In the next few months, after a few minor improvements, Helsinki-Vantaa will be equipped for automatic landings where a couple of hundred metres of visibility is sufficient for landing.

The aircraft, on the other hand, must have an ILS receiver and, for automatic landings, an automatic fail operational flight control system, which means two separate autopilots that can be switched on simultaneously, so that in the event of one malfunctioning the other can independently handle the entire approach and landing process without the intervention of the pilot.

Moreover, air speed control should be switched on when an automatic landing is being performed. For the autopilot to be able to perform an automatic landing, the aircraft must be in the correct orientation at the correct time, which means that the aircraft must have two sensitive pressure altimeters, which, with the aid of radio signals, calculate the aircraft’s true altitude from the ground surface with an accuracy down to a few ten of centimetres. In bad weather, automatic braking can also be used after landing.

In order to achieve the perfect automatic landing, the aircraft must be able after landing to remain on the centreline of the runway. This is done with the aid of the ILS localiser, but using to some extent different controls than in the air.

An aircraft can therefore land automatically, but this rather complex technical achievement is continuously monitored by the pilots.

Jussi Ekman

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