Flying on the Airbus A380 from Frankfurt to Singapore. On this flight, women are in the majority in the cockpit. "As a child, my dream was to fly the Jumbo because the A380 didn't exist yet". "And now I've fulfilled my dream
flying the A380 so that's just great." It's a good 10,000 kilometers to Singapore. more than 170 tons of kerosene have to be filled up beforehand. "This is the refueling panel - the place where the tanker sets how much fuel we want to take with us." With almost 500 passengers on board, LH 778 is almost fully booked. From economy to first class: a total of 21 flight attendants take care of the travelers. "Today, as always, we're offering Kaviar in First Class with the traditional side dishes of onions, eggs and lemon". The mixture of teamwork, technology and the big wide world ensures that flying does not become a routine. "Every flight is different, no day is the same as the previous one and I think this combination of differences is incredibly great." The A380 crew is on the road for almost twelve hours. Even the crew has to take a break. "We have twelve bunks in total, but otherwise most of them are ready to say: okay, we'll close our eyes and we'll sleep." Airport Frankfurt. At the Lufthansa base, the crew of an Airbus A380 is preparing for their mission. The destination is Singapore. Today in the cockpit: First Officer Antje Schäper, Senior First Officer Stefanie Bub and flight captain Joachim Schwarzenberg. "The plane is there. We're calculated to be on time with 8 minutes of tolerance, which is not that much at 11 hours 40 flight time." "And we may have to fly around thunderstorms a bit" - "Have to circle a bit because of the weather" "174 tons of fuel" The flight is long. In 11 hours and 40 minutes, the Lufthansa team will cover almost 10,300 kilometers (6400mil). "On the way the conditions are very good - we only have a short zone after about six hours, where it might be a bit shaky, but guests will hopefully sleep at that time and not notice much. For Singapore itself the weather is just like it is the time of year is: some cumulus clouds, there could be a shower here and there , but we have the 174 tons we just mentioned with us. " "Today we said due to the somewhat unstable weather conditions we would take about half an hour more fuel." "Ms. Schäper sits in the front right, she 'll carry out the flight. Mr. Schwarzenberg, the captain, sits in the front left by default and I sit in the middle at the back and watch and make a sound if something doesn't go as it should otherwise I'm more observing on this trip. " Next door, the preparations of the cabin crew are already in full swing. Today's flight is almost fully booked. "We have some special meals - there is a varied program. We have ordered children's, vegetarian and special meals where passengers pay extra to get an upgraded dish, which we then of course bring to the seat. So on Of course we have to pay attention in the briefing to what we are doing on board with our catering agent, that it is there and we can then serve it to the guest. " [Welcome] "Alright guys, once again a warm welcome to our short trip to Singapore." "Whenever we get turbulence and that can always be the case during 11 hours 40 on such a long flight - that is also the flight time - The safest thing to do while in the cabin is to be one with the plane. That means if you can just support yourself on the the head track, then you are with one hand, firmly connected, it's a straight line to the floor and you can hold yourself really well. If you just hold onto the seats like that, you will always be levered out and fall back down. So just remember this, with this you even have one free hand with which you can perhaps maneuver the cart a bit. We're doing this for you and for your own safety first and that's important to me." On the flight to Singapore, a total of 21 flight attendants will take care of the almost 500 passengers. The Lufthansa flagship has a four-class configuration with Economy Premium Economy, Business and First Class. 55 minutes until departure. First Officer Antje Schäper will perform the takeoff in Frankfurt. "First of all, it's basically about transferring the briefing package, which we just mentioned in the briefing, onto the on-board computer. I just did that and with this device we did the briefing on base, which I have now transferred to the on-board computer so that we already have it and we can start working. This is due to the fact that we now have a paperless cockpit and no longer have printed paper or a printed flight plan. Once that is created, that's the basis with which we can work off and then I'll start checking a few systems, switching on other systems such as fuel pumps, air conditioning, lights, etc." - "The good thing about it is that we have actually made the update on the basis, including all systems and all documents that we always have. That means we always have the most modern or the most current version of charts, documents, from our documentation. That's really great. A good system. " "Where did the ramp agent say, are the fish?" - "In the Front" - "In the Front, they want to be warm, tropical fish. Here we have the temperature control for our cargo holds and if we have temperature-sensitive cargo with us, such as animals, there are always very specific categories for how the temperature is set. Today we have tropical fish with us that like it warm of course, but we'll get more information on those later as well. Usually we set around 20 degrees celsius, which we've already set. So no dogs or cats today. " "While the flight attendants are counting the meals, the flight captain Joachim Schwarzenberg is doing the so-called "Walk Around". "This is a safety check, I'm looking if there is anything illegal in there. This is a regulation from the Federal Aviation Office, that's why I look in there. This is the refueling panel, where the tanker adjusts how much fuel we want to take with us. I can see what he's loaded into the tank. And I can see that we have exactly the amount in the tanks that we ordered at the briefing. During the mandatory external visual inspection, the captain checks the technical condition of the machine. "What I'm looking at are the hydraulic lines in particular. We have extremely high pressure: 5000 PSI. And they're made of Kevlar and they used to be a bit vulnerable to leaking. All of them are now always dry, but it's part of the normal outside check that we look whether these lines get damp in any way, from which you can tell that they are worn out. All of them are dry here. Everything is great!" "Brakes are looking good. If you look at this pin, which you can still see. It's still sticking way out and even if it's flush like this, you can still make several landings." "It all looks very good. The brakes like new, the tires also very new, still have a lot of tread. "Although the tread is not so important on a plane." The Airbus A380 has 4 Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines producing 70,000 pounds of thrust each. "This is where the engine intake is checked. This is a very sensitive part of the engine because at high speeds the air has to get into the engine without any flow difficulties. So this area is being looked at very closely and I'm also looking at the entire casing in the engine itself in this part of the housing . Simply because if this plate is missing, the motor becomes very loud and then it no longer works. And most importantly, the blades are examined or checked for any small damage. Not examined but verified. In case a bird flew in, or a stone, or whatever, you'd see it right away. Then the mechanics would check whether this notch is okay or whether the blade basically needs to be replaced." Joachim Schwarzenberg then documents the result of the external visual inspection in the technical log of the plane with the registration Mike India (D-AIMI). "I confirm that I am satisfied with the overall condition of this aircraft and with this signature I document that I accept this aircraft. With that we can start the flight. If I don't give this signature, we won't leave the ground." Boarding completed. [Announcement] 5 minutes until take-off. " Trim Tank Fuel - that's almost correct to the kilogram. Crazy! Take Off Weight 521.67." -" So 522. Very good" During taxi and takeoff, Senior First Officer Stefanie Bub sits behind the pilots and supports her colleagues if necessary. " The speeds for the start today are relatively high, also due to our weight. This is the V1 - the so-called decision speed is 143 knots today. You have to calculate about 1.8 for km / h. That is the speed up to which we can abort the take-off but also can get to a stop before the end of the runway . We take off at about 158 knots - that's about 290-300 km / h. Then we are in the air and then we can go flying. " " Off Dock is 02. " " 778 go ahead " " Lufthansa 778, 121.755 (radio frequency Frankfurt Apron), thank you, bye! " The A380 takes off today on the 4000 meter long Runway 18 also called "Startbahn West". "Lufthansa 778, Runway 18, cleared for take off" "I'll bring it to the Centerline. You have control " - "I have control." - "Take Off!" "100 knots." - "Checked". "Rotate!" 11 hours to Singapore. Antje Schäper is satisfied with the start in Frankfurt . "Departure went well. When we got to the runway, a plane just took off, one was still ahead of us, so that worked out great, so that we will most likely arrive in Singapore on time." Today we had a special case because we flew a departure route that requires a certain altitude at a certain point and since we are quite heavy, especially on the flights to Singapore, under normal circumstances we would not be able to achieve this altitude if we would accelerate normally as usual. That is why we have increased the acceleration height exactly to the required height at the mentioned point. " "Normally we accelerate at 1000 feet - that is, 300 meters over the ground - but since you take the nose down and pick up speed while accelerating, that again is at the expense of the rate of climb. So we didn't do that on this case because otherwise we would have been fast at this point, but not that high. " "We are now just abeam of Munich, you could spot the airport very nicely, a bright, white the white rectangle. We're now headed directly towards Austria, straight through, to the south of Linz to Hungary. Often when you get to Austria or Hungary, you get a shortcut and then it works out to a relatively straight path. You basically work your way from DIRECT to DIRECT, i.e. from shortcut to shortcut." Just before the Austrian border there's some turbulence without any warning. "What we just felt was just a wake vortex from another airplane that we just crossed. That was that little bump that we just felt. So absolutely normal, happens every now and then and does virtually nothing to a plane of our size. You just notice it. " "We have just checked in with the Austrian controllers ..." - "That might have been the bump ;-) " We just checked in with the austrian controller and the border with Austria is here at this point and it's called ESEGA. Of course, you always check in a few minutes or a few moments in advance so you don't arrive without notice" "At least here in our latitudes though, all flight control centers are connected with each other." "That means, they know that we are coming and can plan accordingly." "That means we at some point give up the rough planning and the flight control centers do the fine-tuning and stagger the traffic as they need to." "We actually wanted to fly 2000 feet higher, we can't do so because there is now a slower aircraft 2000 feet above us. The A380 flies pretty fast and that means we get too close to it and that is why we now have to fly under it or it will turn at some point and then we can go up again. " "That's true. You can even see this colleague here it's saying +20, so he is 2000 feet above us, and since he is flying on our route, it is probably exactly the one who is preventing us from climbing. But the one in front of us is roughly 20 miles out. It doesn't take long before we overtake him. " "Basically, the higher you fly, the less weather conditions, the quieter it will be in flight." "The second point is that you get a higher total airspeed due to the thinner air and we fly more efficiently and more fuel-efficiently up there. So there are many points coming together. This is compared to the past, to piston aircraft, a huge advantage. Higher, faster, quieter and more comfortable. This is of course done to perfection with the A380. "Flight attendant Stefanie Soleg is taking care of the eight First Class passengers on the upper deck of the megaliner. "Today, as always, we're serving caviar in First Class with the traditional side dishes of onions, eggs and lemon. Toast is still in the oven. It's getting heatet up right before serving." "Then there is a selection of starters: we have a salad with two different dressings, there is a small starter plate with pumpkin cubes, there are shrimp with mango and edamame and ox fillet with porcini mushrooms. " "I've already made the bread rolls, the toast still needs a little time, we won't need it until a little while later. " "But we've already warmed up the rolls because we're now setting the tables - really with tablecloth and salt. and pepper shakers and everything that goes with it as and fresh bread." "So toast is ready, I'll go in now and offer the starters. " Luxury has its price: a first class ticket from Frankfurt to Singapore and back starts around 10,000 euros. Things are much more down to earth today in business class. "Right now for Oktoberfest time there is always a special dish which was selected by cabin crew this year. And this year it's schnitzel with potato salad and we're serving dumpling carpaccio as a starter. " "So it is actually quite popular with passengers, In my section, where I work, half have opted for the Oktoberfest menu. So it seems to be well received Then I'll need the fish meat once please. "With 78 guests is fully booked on that flight in business class. "For dessert we have firstly a Bavarian cream - of course fits perfectly now back to Oktoberfest and additionaly, a selection of fruits or cheeses. plus we offer: of course, to the cheese, something like port wine for dessert espresso, coffee, tea, all that is desired. Yes, that would be our offering." After dinner, most of the passengers sleep and some of the flight attendants also have a break. For this there is the so-called crew rest compartment below the passenger cabin on the cargo hold level. The pilots have their own rest rooms directly behind the cockpit. "We have 12 bunks in total, each has an oxygen mask, we have a small reading light for those who practically cannot sleep during their break. They can then pass the time with books or magazines and otherwise most of them are really ready to close their eyes and sleep during that time. "After a six-hour flight, a new day is dawning. "We are now close to Afghanistan. We have now changed our altitude from 35,000 feet to 37,000 feet. That was an altitude that had actually been blocked for us the whole time since Frankfurt and now we have received the clearance to climb and we have also just obtained clearance to be able to fly into Afghanistan." "It's still a hot spot, because there's a lot traffic on this route it must also be specially staggered and you have to get the entry clearance in good time so that it can be better coordinated. We have just done on the designated frequency, called them up and said 'Hi, we're coming'. They replied: 'It's okay, you can proceed.' " "Sunrise is always beautiful. Sometimes it is exhausting when you are tired and the sun hits you right in the eye, but it's always beautiful, like now. When you see that it has something special - even after 40 years of flying it is always something uplifting and beautiful. " "We are right on schedule in terms of time and fuel. That's exactly how it should be." "We currently have 87 tons of fuel on board from our original 174 tons and currently want to land in Singapore with 22 tons. So we still have sufficient reserves for the weather, so we're in good shape." "Stephanie Bub has been a pilot for 17 years. She never regretted her career choice. "As a kid it was my dream to fly the Jumbo because there wasn't the A380 yet and now I have fulfilled my dream to fly the A380, that's just great. Of course, one is proud, there aren't that many pilots in the world who can do this." But Stefanie Bub's flights as Senior First Officer on the A380 are counted. The next step on the career ladder is already waiting. "This is now my third last flight on the 380 - in just over four weeks I will switch to short-hauls, going to do my type rating to be then captain on the A320 after about six months of training. Saying farewell to the A380 is definitely hard. The A320 flies around Europe, of course, these are also completely different experiences and a different route network. I'm looking forward to the task of leading a team and then finally being in charge. It will definitely be exciting and will also be a challenge. " Lufthansa introduced women in the cockpit 30 years ago. What used to be a sensation is now business as usual. "I've always thought for myself that when air traffic is increasing and the selection criteria are so tough, we can actually only cope with this growth if women come along. Personally, I was always of the opinion that women can do it just as well as men. " "I believe this statement that women cannot do it comes from the time when we really had to fly with a lot of physical force - from the beginnings of aviation, when the big machines really had to be flown with a lot of strength. " " Today it is finger and I have actually never experienced anything in support of this prejudice. " Today, the proportion of female pilots at Lufthansa is 7 percent and rising. At the Airline with the crane mascot, 15% of the candidates for one of the highest jobs in the world are currently women. "What we now see on the left is the main Himalayan ridge. It is bounded on the left by the K2 and then there's this series of 8 eight-thousanders, which is then bordered on the right by Mount Everest and in between Nanga Parbat. It's a fantastic view today, simply because you can see the relief really well and that's something fascinating! Most of the time there's cumulus clouds here, so you just know: there is the Himalayas, but you can't see it as well as it you can today and that's just wonderful. " "What you can see here on this map: The minimum heights that we as pilots have to keep above these mountains and you can see here that you have 11,000 feet over Jaipur, over Delhi, which you have to keep." "Then we get here into the area with 27,700, here 29,100 and it increases to 31,100 feet. Here you can probably hardly see it at Kathmandu - here is the Kathmandu airport and here is Mount Everest. Our flight path right now leads us along the river Ganges. First we set course for Lucknow, which is one of the cities that the British still founded here, then we continue via Benares or today Varanasi, towards Calcutta." Changing of the guard in the cockpit: First Officer Antje Schäper is back from her break. Now it is the captain's turn and the women take control of the largest passenger aircraft in the world. "Hello Steffi!" - "Hi Antje! Did you sleep well?" "Yes, you don't need more than two hours" - "Especially not at night." "So net we had 3 hours 40 rest time but you also need about 15 minutes before and after until you 're actually in bed and made the bed for the next person afterwards." "But you get to 2.5 - 3 hours." "I slept very well today, the flight was calm, it was the right time of day." "Of course it's no comparison to your own bed at home and 9 hours of sleep at a time, but still relaxing for 2 hours here and put your feet up is a good thing and you can also tell that it feels good." "Look, as soon as we get over the Bay of Bengal the clouds start to appear." "Yes, funny, right?" "As long as thunderstorms don't get as bad as they do sometimes..." - "Yes exactly." "When I think about how many people spend their free time at the airport to watch the planes - that's exactly what has always excited me - to fly, something that people have always dreamed of - and then at some point to do it themselves that always fascinated me and inspired me! To fly and to do what not many can do. " "I have to say I like the variety of challenges: on the one hand it's the team that matters. Since you have a very large human aspect." "Be it the human aspect in the crew, the teamwork , especially on the 380, where we have 24 crew members. It's always very exciting how the team fits in and how you work together. Just as of course the passengers: 509 guests." "There is always someone around who stands out, I'll say. Then, of course, besides the human component , you also have the technical challenge." "The same goes for the meteorological one. Every flight is different, no day is the same as the previous one. I think this combination of differences is incredibly great." "The variety." "That keeps you awake and fit". "We are now over Bangladesh and here, where the cloudbase is slowly beginning, is exactly the border with the Bay of Bengal. It will continue right now , I can just show it. We are right here in this little corner. Now we continue towards Myanmar. " "It is still recommended to do an in-flight broadcast in Myanmar." "That means that in addition to the controller who controls us, Karrada, another frequency is switched on to the second radio a so-called air-to-air frequency, to allow other aircraft that are in the airspace to still be used in addition to state where you are, where you are headed, what altitude you are at the moment, in order to avoid possible conflicts. " "The nice thing is that once you have left Myanmar behind you, you already know that you are slowly heading towards your destination! After that comes Thailand and then the descent begins . Perhaps you can even see a little bit of Thailand today We are coming past Pukhet. That's also the nice thing: to see the world from above. So that's a lot of fun for me ... ... at night and during the day. I mean now it's cloudy, but we have seen beautiful views of the Himalayas . You have a perfect panoramic view here you have to say. You sit in the first row, the 380 still has deeply cut windows!" "Yes, some would pay money for a look like that." Flight attendant Stefanie Frei is also back from her break and is preparing breakfast for Economy Class. "I get the hot food out of the oven and divide it up evenly between two trolleys so that the colleagues on both sides have about the same amount." "Today we have scrambled eggs with spinach and a turkey sausage." Final sprint. Just under 80 minutes until landing in Singapore. The planning for this is already in progress. "So we are looking at the current weather information here on this display. We see that currently the 20 runways are active, so probably the Two Zero Center (20C) is an option for us. We also entered that. That may look a bit confusing at first sight. We arrive from up here north over Thailand. This is then part of the approach route. It leads us directly into the final approach. This bit here is the arrival route, with these magenta numbers. These are so-called constraints (restrictions) we also need to check that they are entered correctly." "Their purpose is to have a certain minimum or maximum altitude at a certain point, as well as a certain speed so that the controller can plan on how he will stagger the traffic. Here you can already see a small piece of the final approach. Here it goes straight into the final approach. " "Now it's the point where we set the so-called BTV." "BTV stands for Brake to Vacate. It's a wonderful function on the A380. Here we already tell the plane which taxiway we want to vacate the runway. Before that we enter - I have already done that - we enter the weather data here into the computer so that the aircraft also knows whether the runway is maybe wet, dry and if there's headwind or tailwind, etc. I entered that here and so we now select the mentioned Runway 2 0 Center. This is an overview of Singapore Airport Zoomed out very far. I'll zoom in again a little" "Here we select runway 20 Center, this is where we want to land - very likely. Often things still change. And then we have mapped the taxiways here on which we can vacate. I'll make it a bit bigger, then you might see it better. We will land from this direction and then roll off like this. Here we have two lines, the so-called dry line and the wet line. Basically, we always choose an exit that is behind the wet line, in case you land a little longer or if the runway should get wet, then the braking distance is correspondingly longer and so you still have a bit of leewway. So I would now select the taxiway called Echo 7, also check the chart again whether this taxiway Echo 7 is also approved for the A380. We have it here on the map and it is shown in green - you can see that here. Here is the runway again and the taxiways are in green So I select it." "Then up here you can see the data that we have now selected - that we are landing on runway 20 Center. It is 4 kilometers long. That is comfortably long. We have selected Exit Echo 7 and it will be 2571 meters to get there. If we agree with the data, the autobrake is preselected to BTV and then it shows BTV in blue up here." "We want to weigh 373 tons for landing. With this weight and the weather conditions that I entered here, with the runway that I have selected, 20 Center, we want to use about 2400 meters of runway and as Antje has already calculated with BTV that is completely sufficient" "We have 4 kilometers of runway available, so there is plenty of room left. We will have 23.5 tons of fuel for our landing, which is 10 tons more than the legal requirement." "That means, if there are delays due to thunderstorms, etc., or lot of traffic, we still have enough with us to fly a few more circles and wait." Just in time for the landing, the cockpit crew is complete again. "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. This is your first officer speaking from the cockpit. My name is Antje Schäper and I'm flying you to Singapore today. We're already very close to our destination. The remaining flight time is still roughly 35 to 40 minutes, depends a little on the traffic situation in and around Singapore, but I expect an on time arrival. Weather is quite seasonable, as already mentioned, some light showers over the airfield with temperatures currently around 29°C. I hope you enjoyed the flight with us tonight, found some rest and sleep and I wish you a good remaining day in Singapore, a nice vacation and a pleasant onward journey. " "Lufthansa 778, Lufthansa 778, descent flight level 330." "Lufthansa 778, leaving level 390, descending level 330." "Lufthansa 778, Singapore Radar, Squawk 7602" "7602 we are on heading 100, descending level 330." "Lufthansa 778, heading 090 sir and descent level 350." "Lufthansa 778, heading 090, descent level 350." "Normally the approach takes a much wider path. So it would basically go all the way back here and then back in. That means we have already got a very short version of this approach. Now you just have to see how the air traffic controller integrates us into the other traffic. Our disadvantage is that we have very large wake vortices. There is a lot of traffic into Singapore, so we always have to be treated specially and the others around us are staggered. That just leads to an occasional detour. " The weather is holding up. Still there is a slight delay. "They have just instructed us to fly on hold shortly before Singapore due to the increased approach traffic." "This is shown here. We are entering the holding right now. That's this oval shaped circle here." "We'll see how long this will take, we haven't been told yet, but I assume it won't take too long." "But of course it ruins our plan to arrive on time. So now we're circling above the water." Approaching Singapore. "Wind mostly from the front, slightly rotating." "Spoiler! Roll out! BTV! Reverse green! Decel." "Lufthansa 778, Whiskey 7, turn right Whiskey Papa." "Lufthansa 778, Whiskey 7 and Whiskey Papa" "Are we too much, too far or is it okay?" - "A little bit too far but it is okay". - "Wasn't me!" "I just rolled a little bit too far because I didn't want to make an abrupt stop, because that's very unpleasant for our guests and it seems like it makes a big enough difference for them to have to look if the jetway still fits, so everything within limits, as it should be." "Was a nice flight. As you say: an uneventful flight is a good flight" "During approach we were also lucky since we didn't get the cumulus clouds like we expected. About the approach itself: you always get a little bit of thermal updrafts because of the temperature. But I'm happy." "From my perspective this was a very nice and pleasant flight with very nice colleagues. Everything went just as expected." "My colleagues did everything very well. I'm mostly here as a third set of eyes, to have additional oversight. But since I had very professional colleagues with me, there wasn't much for me to do." End of the work day after 14 hours. Now the crew gets a break for 1,5 days, then they're headed back to Frankfurt. Translation and Subtitles:
Lukas Schilling
Phil Thoma
