The great big "ask an airline pilot" thread!

foxinsox

I just found this thread today, it must have appeared on the latest posts!

I love it..

I have no desire to be a pilot but have just read the whole thread today and found it really interesting. I now have a brain full of interesting stuff.

So thanks to all the pilots (and others) for the answers and questions

So my really girly question:

You know the bags you have, their was a pic posted earlier in thread, and someone referred to it as their "ladies handbag":

Do the airlines give you these bags?

If not how much do they cost?

Reason for silly question: I volunteer in a charity shop and we got a pilots' bag in recently, sold it for €25...just curious.

eitlean

I'm not certain if some airlines provide the case. I reckon you'd be singing for it at Ryanair or Easyjet. You have to pay for your own uniform in Ryanair. You usually get one while doing early training to keep all your gadgets in.

Here's a link to where you can buy them.

The price very much varies. €25 sounds reasonable for a second hand one. Could be good for storing any documents in. Wouldn't have to be a pilot to find a use for it...

Uncle_moe

Do pilots on the same flight have to eat different meals in case a certain type of food is contaminated? Not much good all of you getting terrible food poisoning.
Also does it become a game of rock, paper, scissors for the steak?

donvito99

Why don't pilot wear hats with the white tops anymore? Noticed recently that most if not all have gone to smallish, black ones. What ever happened to the Naval style ones?

xflyer

Good question, just a question of fashion I think. Pan Am had the white topped hats.

Many airlines don't even have hats anymore. It's dying out as an idea. Time was every man had a hat. No longer and that has spread to the airlines.

White topped hats were good for tropical regions.

Times change. At some point even the naval style pilot uniform will fade away.

Chuck Stone

How many pilots will a dreamliner have to have on its longest journeys?

View Profile

Uncle_moe

Do pilots on the same flight have to eat different meals in case a certain type of food is contaminated? Not much good all of you getting terrible food poisoning.
Also does it become a game of rock, paper, scissors for the steak?

Don't know if this rule is still enforced by airlines, maybe long-haul legacy carriers still do this.
However with my airline we bring our own lunch. :rolleyes:

xflyer

Times change. At some point even the naval style pilot uniform will fade away.

Ah I hope this isnt the case.
Some airlines are getting a bit more casual with their uniforms but they still all have the suit-jacket with stripes and wings.
I personally rarely wear my suit-jacket as its always taken off in the flight-deck anyway, in winter a coat is better, and in summer its too feckin warm for a suit-jacket.
Have to say it does look smart and walking through the airport wearing it always gets peoples attention. (something pilots hate btw :P)

lord lucan

View Profile wrote: »

Some airlines are getting a bit more casual with their uniforms but they still all have the suit-jacket with stripes and wings.
I personally rarely wear my suit-jacket as its always taken off in the flight-deck anyway, in winter a coat is better, and in summer its too feckin warm for a suit-jacket.
Have to say it does look smart and walking through the airport wearing it always gets peoples attention. (something pilots hate btw :P)

You should get yourself a leather Aviator-style jacket complete with patches so you can look cool like some of the DL/AA/UA/US guys that pass through DUB!:P

veetwin

lord lucan wrote: »

You should get yourself a leather Aviator-style jacket complete with patches so you can look cool like some of the DL/AA/UA/US guys that pass through DUB!:P

All you need then is a dodgy moustache and a pair of cowboy boots to complete the look!:cool:

View Profile

Ryanair do have a leather pilots jacket available apparently, not seen many wearing it however.

Uncle_moe

Are some routes or even segments of certain routes particularly turbulent on a regular basis?
Flown out of YVR a few times and always turbulence for at least an hour after take-off to the point where cabin crew cannot serve drinks etc?
NY and LHR also seemed to be a bit shaky anytime I've flown in or out.

Also are big airliners safer or does it just seem that way because they move about less in adverse weather?

APM

lord lucan wrote: »

You should get yourself a leather Aviator-style jacket complete with patches so you can look cool like some of the DL/AA/UA/US guys that pass through DUB!:P

When I worked in Servisair on the ramp, the Fedex Pilots had their own Aviator leather jackets with their names sewn on too. "Captain Xyz"

stopthepanic

The EI483 today, while on 6 miles finals was struck by lightning. The a/c landed safely.

Has anyone on here experienced a lightning strike?
and be able to describe what that's like from both a main cabin and flight deck perspective?

donvito99

stopthepanic wrote: »

and be able to describe what that's like

shocking :pac::pac::pac:

Tenger

stopthepanic wrote: »

Has anyone on here experienced a lightning strike? and be able to describe what that's like from both a main cabin and flight deck perspective?

Imagine being in a room when someone fires a shotgun...............

I have been told but haven't experienced it that in some cases a flash of light can be seen in the cabin.

Chuck Stone wrote: »

How many pilots will a dreamliner have to have on its longest journeys?

As with all modern commercial aircraft it will have a flight crew of 2. As with current long range aircraft on some longer flight it will carry extra crew. (Sometimes an extra F/O, sometimes a relief Capt + F/O) This ensures that no one flight crew member is on duty for more than permitted under whatever legal limitations the airline operates.

Dogwatch

Tenger wrote: »

As with all modern commercial aircraft it will have a flight crew of 2. As with current long range aircraft on some longer flight it will carry extra crew. (Sometimes an extra F/O, sometimes a relief Capt + F/O) This ensures that no one flight crew member is on duty for more than permitted under whatever legal limitations the airline operates.

In this case with more than 2 crew, how do they credit the flying hours. Does each crew member get credit for the full block time or is it divided between them and how is it worked out?

Tenger

Dogwatch wrote: »

In this case with more than 2 crew, how do they credit the flying hours. Does each crew member get credit for the full block time or is it divided between them and how is it worked out?

Well they are all 'on duty' from check-in to stepping off at the arrival point, so I would hazard that they all get the same flight hours credit.

xflyer

In terms of logging hours, the Captain will log it as P1 and the second pilot will log it as P2. But when it comes to getting paid for flying hours, both will be the same.

eatmyshorts

Dogwatch wrote: »

In this case with more than 2 crew, how do they credit the flying hours. Does each crew member get credit for the full block time or is it divided between them and how is it worked out?

It depends on the airline and the regulatory authority.
This is how it works at my airline: On a 4 crew ULR flight, one crew will be the operating crew and the other will be the augmenting crew. The operating crew gets credit for the full flight, chocks off to chocks on. The augmenting crew only gets credit for the time actually sitting in the operating seats. On the return leg, this reverses.

Eg a 12 hour flight. Operating crew logs 12 hours on the way out, augmenting crew logs about 5:30. On the return its the other way around. So about 18 hours each logged over a total of about 24 hours.

Chuck Stone

Do any flights go over the poles?

If not, why not?

globemaster1986

Chuck Stone wrote: »

Do any flights go over the poles?

If not, why not?

Yes they do. Most flights follow a great circle route, which is the shortest distance between two points, and if that happens to be over the poles so be it. If you look here you will see an example, a route between Singapore and Newark.

Our man in Havana

Is that run possible non stop?

globemaster1986

Our man in Havana wrote: »

Is that run possible non stop?

Yes. To my knowledge it is the longest non-stop commercial service today. Singapore Airlines do it with an A340-500 configured entirely in Business class. I believe the flight is 16 to 17 hrs long

Chuck Stone

Wiki confirms.

Singapore Airlines Flight 21 is the longest regular scheduled non-stop flight in the world. It flies from Newark Liberty International Airport to Singapore Changi Airport, covering about 10,000 miles (16,000 km) miles still air distance in about 18.5 hours flight time.[1] It is operated by an Airbus A340-500. Its return flight is Flight 22 from Singapore to Newark, which is the second-longest flight in the world, being scheduled to be fifteen minutes shorter due to prevailing high-altitude winds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_Airlines_Flight_21

Chuck Stone

Were international flights allowed to cross the soviet states back in the day?

Our man in Havana

The Soviets shot down a Korean flight that strayed into their airspace. So I would be thinking they did not allow foreign flights overfly their area.

cyrusdvirus

Our man in Havana wrote: »

The Soviets shot down a Korean flight that strayed into their airspace. So I would be thinking they did not allow foreign flights overfly their area.

The KAL 007 shootdown was over a military restricted area. AND there was an RC-135 snooping around the area around the same time.

Pan Am had a regularly scheduled flight to Moscow before their demise

IrishLad123

Hi, I've read through this thread and I still have a few questions.

1. Do you ever bring your families up to the cockpit in flight? And is it different flying when you have your family on board?

2. When you became a pilot how long did it take you to pay off your loan for the training.. a commercial pilot.

3. How long do you have to in work before the flight takes off to do checks, and same with when the passengers leave the plane and you have no more flights for the night?

I had more but I can't think of them right now. Thank you.

Bearcat

IrishLad123 wrote: »

Hi, I've read through this thread and I still have a few questions.

1. Do you ever bring your families up to the cockpit in flight? And is it different flying when you have your family on board?

2. When you became a pilot how long did it take you to pay off your loan for the training.. a commercial pilot.

3. How long do you have to in work before the flight takes off to do checks, and same with when the passengers leave the plane and you have no more flights for the night?

I had more but I can't think of them right now. Thank you.

1. Most airlines forbid visits. 2. No
2. If you take a 100k loan when banks used to lend......it could take ten years which gives you space to live.
3. Long Haul check in 1hr 15 before and European 50mins? Most folk sneak in a bit earlier. Post flight once folk are off, tech log, paper work, electronic flight book filled in.....it's a quick process disembarking especially for the capt as the f/o generally tidies up the end bits. Tech snags will take time liaising with engineers.

Priority Right

No it's not allowed to have anyone in the flightdeck apart from crew while the plane is moving. They can visit while on stand.

Yeah it can take about 10 years to pay off a loan. They do seem to be getting bigger and bigger though.

Short haul we check in 1hr before departure time. Mostly I'm in 15minutes early unless it's a very very early start e.g. before 5am local. Then it's 5 minutes.

About 2 minutes for the flightdeck to finish up but usually takes the cabin crew longer.