Inside the Cockpit | Landing at Orlando International Airport

Passing 14,000 feet, welcome back approaching Orlando today. We are right now on the high back star. A star is a public flight procedure that guides an aircraft from the en route cruise phase to the approach phase. It provides a structured, predictable, and efficient route for aircraft entering a busy airspace and then airport. And of course, every good landing has to start with the approach checklist. So a star simplifies navigation and air traffic coordination by organizing traffic flow into the airport. During the arrival, the aircraft will begin descending from a cruise altitude in coordination with ATC. The descent is often gradual and controlled to match the requirements of the star, ensuring the aircraft arrives at an appropriate altitude and speed for the approach and landing later on. A star typically consists of several way points, specific geographic locations or points in space, through which the aircraft must navigate. These way points help the aircraft follow the intended path and make turns as needed to align with the airport's runway later. Happy birthday. Ach so. Danke, danke. Happy birthday. Danke schön. Essen. It was 12 a.m. in Germany, so I decided to congratulate the captain to his birthday, which was really nice. We overflew Cape Canaveral at that time. Beautiful views. Just an amazing moment. But Orlando isn't just about smooth skies and happy birthday, especially during hurricane season. It's like Florida's got a target on its back, and that's crazy weather. Hurricanes, thunderstorms, you name it. As a pilot, we gotta stay sharp. One wrong move and you're in a world of trouble. We're always checking the radar, rerouting if needed, and yet sometimes we even gotta hold off a landing and join a holding for 45 minutes. Those thunderstorms pop up fast, and trust me, you don't wanna mess with them. Strong winds, lightning, it's all about staying clear of them and staying safe. Luckily on that day, we weren't expecting any weather. It was just a beautiful summer Floradian, Floradian? Florida day. We were expecting an ILS runway 18 right out of two feet with radar vectors. We barely ever fly a star up to the end of it. We most of the time get vectors beforehand. That is there to spare us some time and to keep the airspace a bit more clear for air traffic. So we most of the time, before reaching the end, turn left and then ATC vectors us onto the final approach track of the day, which was 185. On a heading of 235, we're making our way in the direction shortly before two feet because we were cleared for 3,000 feet and that's where we're gonna intercept the glide later. So we have to be in front of two feet because two feet must be at 2,200 feet. ATC only cleared us here for the localizer. That's because they don't want us yet to intercept the glide slope. Speed check. Four. Two. Four, four, four, six, four, six. Four, roger, set. Get on. Matched. Two laps, climb altitude. Tower, we're gonna have to make room. Six, seven, heavy. Six, seven, six, climb altitude. Runway at right. It's planned to. Six, seven, six, climb. And I'll see you when I have to take off on altitude. Four. Speed checked. Flaps. Climbing checklist. Got a memo. One minute and one minute and 17 seconds. 1,000. Approaching one, eight, right. 400. Checked. 100 above. 300. Minimum. 200. 100. 50, 40, 30, 20. Retard, six. Boilers. Evers, green. Aces. A non-time arrival in Orlando here. Since we already know where we're parking because we most of the time have the same gate positions on every airport we fly to. At Orlando, that is South Terminal C, parking position 245. That's why we like to request runway 18 right for landing. Most of the time, though, we have to land on runway 17 left, which is a bummer there because taxi time, as you can see, where we have to go over November, Foxtrot, Bravo, and then into the gate is a pretty long time. That's why when runway 18 works out, we spare another 10 minutes. With that said, everyone, welcome to Orlando. I hope you enjoyed today's video and the landing here. A little greeting here to the handling since he's always waving there at the gateway. Brilliant dude. And with that said, thanks for watching. We went to dinner with the captain afterwards since it was still his birthday. And yeah, I hope you enjoyed today's. Have a good one. See you in the next one.