The great big "ask an airline pilot" thread!

eatmyshorts wrote: »

Bay of Bengal during the monsoon transit is a lot worse.

I flew over that way in late September and was pretty much smooth as silk the whole way, few slight bumps and the pilot had warned of possible turbulence over Bengal before take-off..but nothing really materialised.

Any pilots here flown over that way when there's a Cyclone nearby?

Service ceiling.

About 4 feet physically to the left, but a million miles mentally.......

Now, i hope that my traveling in uniform on FR question makes sense

smurfjed wrote: »

About 4 feet physically to the left, but a million miles mentally.......

Now, i hope that my traveling in uniform on FR question makes sense

At least they have Velcro on the back so you can take them off ( if you wish).

Try these bad boys, sown onto my only descent bit of clothing . Had to get home from the wavy navy ASAP from Singapore to London then onto Shannon.

smurfjed wrote: »

About 4 feet physically to the left, but a million miles mentally.......

Now, i hope that my traveling in uniform on FR question makes sense

I don't understand

adam88 wrote: »

I don't understand

It's an old euphemism about promotion from First Officer to Captain.

In the cockpit the move from the right seat to the left or Commanders seat is physically only a distance of a few feet. However the change in responsibility, duties and even thought process may as well be a million miles.

Growler!!! wrote: »

I think Murph was showing his 4 bars cos he's recently been promoted? I could be wrong but congrats Murph it's a great achievement.





To avoid confusion, the pic of my 2 bars was from the merchant navy. Colours signify branches, green for electric/electronic and purple for mechanical engineering.

Ah, that could be it. If so, congrats on the move smurfjed - does this now mean there will be less time for pics of snazzy jets? Or more time maybe if you get your minion to do all the work!!

When you have the time, what was the process to go from the right seat to the left ie. selection, training etc, and is there any difference between the process in your company and what a "normal" (for want of a better word) airline might do in selecting and training captains?

Just a question about speedbrakes.

In 2009 I was returning from Boston on an EI A330. When landing in Dublin I noticed they didn't extend on touchdown, in fact it was after reverse thrust was applied and the nose gear had touched down when they were extended. We then taxied to the gate and they remained extended at the gate after the engines were shutdown. What would have caused this? I'm purely guessing that for some reason they didn't auto deploy and the pilot had to manually extend them.

Simon Gruber Says wrote: »

Just a question about speedbrakes.

In 2009 I was returning from Boston on an EI A330. When landing in Dublin I noticed they didn't extend on touchdown, in fact it was after reverse thrust was applied and the nose gear had touched down when they were extended. We then taxied to the gate and they remained extended at the gate after the engines were shutdown. What would have caused this? I'm purely guessing that for some reason they didn't auto deploy and the pilot had to manually extend them.

Don't know about the Airbus but on the Boeing, AUTO speedbrakes inop.

selection, training etc, and is there any difference between the process in your company and what a "normal" (for want of a better word) airline might do in selecting and training captains?

Selection was by seniority. Although we are rated on the aircraft, the program called for attending a complete initial training course, so two of us went to the USA for a month last November, the simulator training consisted of our standard annual training followed by LOFT (Line Orientated Flight Training) flights, so we did 40 hours in the sim. Then it was a case of waiting for an instructor. For the flight training portion, we had to do a minimum of 20 legs and 30 hours. Then a 4 sector check ride

This is actually airline based training and is a lot more than legally required.

smurfjed wrote: »

Wow interesting question Any fleet change is based on seniority, we have about 70 pilots but only 3 are still First Officers, so my Captain seniority is terrible. If we get a replacement for the G4, then i will get to move to that, or if the fleet size increases, i might get a sniff of something else.
Alternatively, once i get 500 hours as Captain, then i can jump across and fly the A320 in the airline side, or if i want to stay corporate, i can move to our charter operation and fly the 7X.

There are pros and cons to each of these plans, I'm happy and quite spoilt where i am now, so i have no desire to move anywhere

Well done and conrats on your command, wish you all the best with your career

A typical atlantic crossing would involve a busy climb and early cruise phase as you obtain an oceanic clearance for the tracks, liaise with domestic atc, obtain weather, check systems and fuel, discuss a strategy for a diversion, and a quick PA to the pax before the punters get into the service and IFE. Prior to entering the ocean and track system we have various belts and braces checks that we do to ensure we are going in on the right track at the right mach no, level and time. There are further checks as we travel across the ocean to avoid a gross navigation error. Every 30 minutes we check fuel and the systems but most of us will be keeping a keen eye on the key things on a more regular basis. New forecast and actual weather will be obtained for the etops and operational alternates and a suitable strategy discussed and agreed should it be needed. We will also be listening out to both the distress and chat vhf frequencies and providing turbulence reports back to the office for any following company aircraft. Sig wx charts will be consulted to try and avoid and surprises for the pax - ideally with the seatbelt signs going on generally in anticipation of any bumps.

In between there is chatting, food, coffee & tea, newspapers, books, ipads and all the company manuals for consultation. The latter especially when you have a visit to the sim or ground school training coming up. Getting up to stretch the legs and a wander is invaluable as well.

Every crossing is different, for some the time flies and others you may be into the teeth of strong headwinds watching the minutes slowly tick by.

Quick Q: When you see flight crew coming out of the Customs hall into Arrivals at DUB, are they usually before the pax from that flight, or after most of the pax, or is it not possible to say with baggage delays etc? IOW, are you first out, or last out?

I get around.

Thanks, that's what I thought.

PS: I worked in DUB before I was an airsofter IT Support for DAA, as was. Job was a complete nightmare, trying to keep the networks, screens and Duty Free systems up while the builders were rebuilding T1 under us. I lasted 5 months, but I wasn't too upset about that, 'cos the guy before me lasted 2 weeks, and the one before him 3 days. Loved watching the pax - well certain pax - go by though. I even wore a tie, most days.

smurfjed wrote: »

Thats it, training DONE!!! 6 months of "fun"..... i had to do a couple of observed flights once qualified, so first was to Paris and the second one was today, the grand total distance of 98 nms boy was it fun. We took off from a military airfield that is close to 5000 feet high, climbed to 16,000 feet, asked for direct to final approach fix and started descent, 300 kts down to 10,000 feet followed by 250 to about about 5 miles to the fix, then slowing down, configuring and landing, after that it was kinda strange as we got parked in unique parking. Full guard of honour to meet us, ceremonial guard etc, it was quite impressive. Total flight time, about 16 minutes ( i should add that all of the ceremony was for a visiting King, we just got to park in his spot before him )

Talk about two total extremes of our flight regimes

Congratulations!

Maybe something to do with the fact that the jets might be moving a bit faster than the props and need the heading change a bit quicker...

Or is it water being ingested into jets that seems more concerning?

water ingestion is generally not an issue. Jet engines are designed/tested to operate in extreme weather conditions (monsoon type rains). There are some good videos available of these tests https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faDWFwDy8-U

nd001 wrote: »

When I do be listening to dublin atc you sometimes hear I think its the pilots or dispatchers talking to each other when the flight is on approach do dublin talking about stands for aircraft and loads for the next flight and fuel required. Is this calculated by the pilots before they even make it down or are they passed on the info via company. Thanks in advance

Most times it is the Flight Deck speaking to whats called 'station control', the station controller will then pass the figures onto the relevant dispatchers, most flight crews will know their next fuel load needed. Station Control also send all the relevant info of pax loads, flight crews, a/c type, reg and any specials on board to the destination airport of the flight.