Hey guys,

I thought I can write another trip report about another pretty short flight.

It all started in OERK/ RUH. The weather was fine, 15 degrees C no clouds, just 3knots of wind. So a perfect day for flying. The captain and I were sitting in the cockpit and waited for the loading to be finished. Pretty impressive, the guys in RUH were indeed fast with offloading and loading our MD11F! They were done way ahead of schedule!
Pretty much all preparations in the cockpit were done. I did all my tests and switching which are necesarry, the FMS is programmed for the short flight with a calculated distance of 594NM to SHJ. Our planned deparure runway was 15L, which is 4200m long.
We recieved the loadsheet and everything was as planned. Only 10tons of load (max possible is 94.5tons) so VERY light. Only 12 tons of fuel for such a short flight. So our take off weight was 180tons (MTOW is 286tons)! I was looking forward to a GREAT powerful take off  
I finished the take off calculation. Flaps 15, FLEX 60degrees (max thrust reduction) V1: 131, VR 131, V2 147. So pretty slow  
Doors were closed, everybody is from board (except us of course). I contacted RUH Ground for the start up and push back clearance. The controller was slightly confused and had to check for the flight plan, because we were WELL AHEAD of schedule... It took just 3 minutes and he cleared us for start up and push back. Parking brake released and here we go! Slowly we were pushed back and we were cleared to start the engines, #3, #1 and #2 ...
All engines running in idle and push back is completed, parking brake set, Ground staff is leaving the aircraft and showing us the clear signal(thumb up). I called in for taxi! Its just short way to runway 15L. Only 4minutes. The controller passed us the enroute clearance. And then we had to switch over to tower.
I put in the flaps, set the trim, armed the spoiler and hit NAV and PROF button (for the autopilot). Last checklist read and contacted tower: WE ARE READY!
CLEARED FOR TAKE OFF and after departure contact departure, bye bye.
The captain was pilot flying. He advanced the throttles. Even at 60% N1 you felt the acceleration, were pressed back into your seat! 96% N1 was the take off powersetting and the bitch accelerated like hell! All engines were at take of power and we already hit the 80knots, shorty later: GO, ROTATE! About a third of the runway only used and we lifted off with an initial pitch of 21degrees into the air! Our climb rate was about 5000ft/min! GEAR UP and we climbed away!
I contacted departure and they cleared us to FL270! YAY, perfect for a nonstop climb! Flaps 0 and slats retract and up we go! Climb rate somewhere near 7000ft/min!! Speed at 310knots and still climbing! Shortyl after it: level off at FL270 and been there for 10 minutes until we received further climb to FL410! Our cruising level today...
We left Saudi Arabia behind us and saw Bahrain to our right and shortly after it we saw Qatar, but couldnt see Doha, too far away and too hazy...
We got handed over to UAE control where we got an intil descent to 13000feet... We had to reduce speed pretty early tp 250 knots due to a lot of inbound traffic to DXB. But we want to go to SHJ...
We saw everything during the approach. The Palm, Bursh Al Arab, The World, Dubai Tower etc... Just lovely! A few minutes later we got cleared to 6000 feet. We passed the coast and had SHJ in sight, but runway 30 was in use, so we had to fly pass SHJ airport and then got vectored around. We passed the airport at 6000 feet with a speed of 200knots. About 12NM out from the airport we got cleared to turn right heading 270 and cdescent to 2000 feet and cleared for approach 30.
The Captain switched off the Autopilot and flew manually. Slats extend, slowly reducing speed and descending to 2000 feet. We interecepted the localizer and the glideslope. Flaps 15, contact tower and already cleared to land... There wasnt too much traffic around I guess   flaps 28, Gear Down, Spoiler arm, Autobrake minimum, Flaps 50... Final approach speed 134knots... (pretty slow eh?)
Captain flown a nice approach all the way to the runway, with a positive touchdown! This bitch is even more difficult to land with that light weight... Full reverse and vacated via taxiway C!
Parking stand will be 21A, but hold short of cargo apron, push back in progress! Captain and I were looking at each other and were thinking: which aircraft?! The 2 ones with covered engine inlets or the one with all cargo doors open?! I asked for what traffic we had to wait and the controller cleared an A300F for pushback, but ALL cargo doors were open. I told him that and he asked the A300F if they were ready with loading. They said NO, so were were allowed to pass behind them into our stand 21A.
Everybody was waiting for us to offload 10 tons   Parking brake set, engines off, beacon off and thats it.... OFF for today!
Made all the paperwork and packed all my stuff. Bus was waiting for us already and we were taken to the terminal and then to the hotel! Weather was lovely: 28 degrees C and just light winds and no clouds! Lovely!

I must say, it was another nice flight with nice sightseeing, nice climb performance  I just enjoyed it as usual...


Thats it guys! Hope you enjoyed reading it  

WILCO737 (MD11F)