The Standard Briefing

Before every takeoff...and before every landing...I either give a briefing or listen to one.

Here's my standard takeoff briefing:

"This will be a right seat, Flex thrust, Flaps 8, Trims centered and around 7. I'm planning on taking off runway 27R. Anything before 80 knots we will abort, after 80 knots we will abort for engine fire, failure or if we feel the plane won't fly. Beyond that if a problem arises I will take the plane into the air and we will assess the situation airborne. There is no takeoff alternate so we can return right traffic back around to runway 27R or 27L. Plan on 2000 for a pattern altitude. There are no MELs affecting the performance of the aircraft. Minimum fuel for takeoff is 8400 pounds, we are squaking 0777 and the acceleration altitude is about 800 feet. Any questions?"

It sounds long....but it goes by quickly. When I fly with the same Co-pilot for the entire trip I will normally state "Standard briefing, except for" and give the changes such as runway, min fuel and so on.

For landings I give a full briefing each time I land on a specific runway during a trip. If I do 3 flights to my hub and land on the same runway each time...no need for a new briefing each time.

Here's my standard briefing:

"This will be an visual approach to runway 27R backed up by the ILS. I will use green needles and approach mode for the backup. The runway  is 10,500 feet long and the performance charts show we need 3300 feet to stop. I plan on taking the 2nd high speed exit on the left. I will plan on using idle reverse. Should we need to go around plan on 2000 feet for an initial altitude straight ahead and await further tower instructions."

Most of the approaches I fly are visual. True ILS approaches happen maybe 20% of the time.

My last 3 day was easy. Nothing terribly exciting.

My next 3 day looked interesting. I traded my original 13 hour 3 day for a 15.5 hour 3 day. Yesterday I got an email stating I was displaced off my entire 14 hour 3 day as the Captain of the flight is an IOE instructor and needed to train a new hire. I still get paid for the entire 15.5 hour trip. A few hours later I was reassigned a 10 hour 3 day trip covering the same 3 days.

The new trip is shorter, but I still get paid the full 15.5 hours of the original trip. The trip starts at 7:30PM instead of 7AM for my original trip. The only bad part is the first night is a reduced rest overnight...8 hours and 45 minutes. Ugh.