Leg 4!
Taking off from UHPP (Petropavlovsk-Kamtchatsky) in Russia, my fourth leg brings me in the heart of Japan, the Haneda Airport of Tokyo (RJTT). It’s a 1300 nm long trip. I know, @PaulRix, we were supposed to meet at Sapporo for a drink, but I’m not a fan of japanese beer.
Oh, and this time I’m doing it in PMDG’s 747-400. I took a chance: if I know the 737 NGX well enough, I guess learning the 747 shouldn’t be too difficult, eh? Let’s find out!
It’s late afternoon in Petropavlovsk. The weather is better, this time. As I taxi towards runway 34R, I feel the wheels squeaking and the aircraft rumble. This plane is MASSIVE! Loaded with 130000 lbs of fuel, I feel like I’m taxiing a boat with wings.
Up we go!
I climb up to FL360 and leave the mountains behind me.
There is a very nasty crosswind mixed with turbulence as I climb. The cockpit rattles, shakes and I can feel the whole structure flex under the strength of the russian winds.
Some distant lightning strikes tear through the sky behind me. In front, there’s a beautiful sunset.
An hour into the flight, the sky’s colour palette changes drastically. I go “wow” for a few minutes.
The night settles in as I cross the Okhotsk Sea.
I eventually reach the japanese mainland from the North. It’s pitch dark.
I start my descent a bit earlier than the Top of Descent point. My last flights all had that one thing in common: I had to land manually because I failed to perform an appropriate descent in order to catch the glide slope on final. Since the 747 has a lot of inertia, I don’t want to get stuck in a situation where I’m too high on final and can’t catch the glide slope without overspeeding.
This time, I reach the last STAR’s waypoint 5000 ft AGL early. This way, I’m a bit too low but I can easily capture the localizer, then I can arm the APP mode and the autopilot can easily capture the glideslope if I come a bit below and I can bleed enough speed. Seems like all the mistakes I’ve done in the past finally made me learn something.
And there it is! It feels very satisfying to finally perform a good ILS approach.
Perfectly aligned on runway 34L.
My wheels barely touch the runway and the autobrake does its magic. Boy, this plane feels heavy!
Thrust reversers roar through the night, I feel relief as I see the airspeed diminish. This plane REALLY has to be managed carefully if you want to land in one piece.
Overall, I’m really, really glad that there is such commonality between the 737 NG and the 747 cockpits. It’s quite apparent that they were both designed with the same philosophy. Programming the FMC was very similar, and while the engine start procedure differed a tiny bit, it was more or less the same.
The 747 is becoming a favourite of mine. Who knew flying a heavy lifter could be so much fun?
I taxi slowly towards the parking gate. Phew!
Aaand we’re finally there. Konnichiwa, Tokyo!
