The great big "ask an airline pilot" thread!

EI2011

would love to know more about ILS system could you explain to me in simple terms? great thread btw

Julius Seizure

EI2011 wrote: »

would love to know more about ILS system could you explain to me in simple terms? great thread btw

Well it's made up of two things, the vertical approach, which is called the glideslope and the horizontal approach.. called the localiser.

Anyway they work by putting out two beams of signal, comme ca
The plane can tell which side it is leaning towards more and compensate for that, and show it on the PFD and the second screen which I'm not sure the name of, the Navigation one.

That's pretty much all there is to it, the beams for the Localiser come from the horizontal bar at the far end of the runway, and the beams for the GS come from a stick type ariel popping out next to the runway. In Dublin you see it if you drive n the old road past the mound. To turn it on you'd type it in to the NAV1 radio, turn it on and flick the switched for the PFD to ILS, LOC, APR ect.

LeftBase

Dubhaltach wrote: »

To turn it on you'd type it in to the NAV1 radio, turn it on and flick the switched for the PFD to ILS, LOC, APR ect.

Dont forget to IDENT:D

TIT - Tune Ident Twist

One of the best posts on this thread though I have to say!

A320

Dubhaltach wrote: »

To turn it on you'd type it in to the NAV1 radio, turn it on

What ever happened to the good auld days of the auto tune on the RAD NAV page :D:D

Julius Seizure

LeftBase wrote: »

Dont forget to IDENT:D

TIT - Tune Ident Twist

One of the best posts on this thread though I have to say!

How could I forget... that's the thing she you check the Morse yes?

A320 wrote: »

What ever happened to the good auld days of the auto tune on the RAD NAV page :D:D

I have no idea, only learn about it on fsx and Wikipedia so all my practice comes from whatever MS game studios have to offer :P

LeftBase

Dubhaltach wrote: »

How could I forget... that's the thing she you check the Morse yes?

For an ILS or VOR it's morse....for some NDBs it's RTE radio......I remember listening to Joe Duffy all the way up from Shannon once :cool:

Lustrum

How often would you do an autoland? Would you be coming in for your last touchdown of the day, lovely calm evening, but just couldn't be bothered so stick it on for autoland?

Is there one particular type you'd love to fly before you retire?

smurfjed

We dont have autoland :)

I spent many days camped at the end of RWY24 in shannon watching aircraft and dreaming......

Now I'm presently flying one of my dream planes, Gulfstream, hopefully next year i will be flying the 2nd dream plane, B747.......

smurfjed

Julius Seizure

Very nice. In general, how comfy are the seats?

Priority Right

Lustrum wrote: »

How often would you do an autoland? Would you be coming in for your last touchdown of the day, lovely calm evening, but just couldn't be bothered so stick it on for autoland?

Is there one particular type you'd love to fly before you retire?

We only do autoland when it's 100% required. We always do one in the sim every 6 months too. But on a nice calm evening flying it in manually is usually what's done. If you can't be bothered just disconnect at minimums. Usually people disconnect at 1,000+ft.

I want to fly the 747-800.

deandean

Hi,

What is the position re: a civvie passenger being allowed access to the flight deck? I used to ask, esp on longer flights, and sat in for many landings.

Post you-know-what I asked on an internal flight in the U.S. and the cabin crew told me it was a federal offence (or the likes) for a passenger to be allowed in. That stopped me asking for a few years!

Then last month I was on a charter flight and the cabin crew held a draw based on completed questionnaires, the winner got the jump seat for the landing at MAN. Alas I didn't win but I'm wondering is it worthwhile asking again on flights if I can say hello to The Boss?

Thanks!

bluecode

Surprised that was allowed on the charter flight. Pilots have been sacked for allowing people on the flight deck. I remember an incident where a famous footballer was allowed up front during a charter for a football team. The Captain got into all sorts of trouble for it.

So the answer is still no.

Dacian

That charter lottery sound very fishy. The rules are pretty clear on very strict limits to access to the flight deck. ie IAA inspectors, airline flight crew not operating, company instructors etc

boeingboy

Autolands......
Yeh quite a few, maybe 3/4 a month. Usually tired. During FG(fog) conditions yep we do also. were Cat3B with (if the airfield/runway certified) 0 decision height and 75M Viz.

Jumpseats......
NO. Not with us anyway. Not even I can get one off-duty. On the Ground if were not busy Yep Come on in.

Aircraft want Fly........
Happy on the Mid Size Boeing. im lazy so no more courses for me.

Seats.........
Variable!

Bearcat

Usually tired...? I have never done an Autoland for this reason......you are leaving yourself hole open for a fugh up with critical areas not protected by atc etc.

boeingboy

Not at all! Rubbish! Well guarded. Did you ever hear of asking for a practice Cat2 or 3. Even the shamrogues do that!!

Most of our sectors are 5-9 hours and my company recommends it, as FL will with ye soon!

You dont need bad weather to autoland you know, can be done in cavok conditions.

I did say a few times a month,

Shamrock231

You'd need special ATC clearance, ILS protected zones protected, CAT II/III holding points being used, extra spacing on approach. At a major airport, performing an auto-land would create quite the back log. I don't know of any company that recommends auto-land just because your sector was 5-9 hours, how would you keep proficient if you kept performing auto-lands? Besides, manual landings are easier, and if tired, humans are better when their told to do something instead of told to monitor something....

Bearcat

boeingboy wrote: »

Not at all! Rubbish! Well guarded. Did you ever hear of asking for a practice Cat2 or 3. Even the shamrogues do that!!

Most of our sectors are 5-9 hours and my company recommends it, as FL will with ye soon!

You dont need bad weather to autoland you know, can be done in cavok conditions.

I did say a few times a month,

You know it all Boeing Boy! Now where's my lassoo, Spurs and saddle? Yeehaw"............

boeingboy

Bearcat wrote: »

You know it all Boeing Boy! Now where's my lassoo, Spurs and saddle? Yeehaw"............

Not at all. Im Irish.

boeingboy

Shamrock231 wrote: »

You'd need special ATC clearance, ILS protected zones protected, CAT II/III holding points being used, extra spacing on approach. At a major airport, performing an auto-land would create quite the back log. I don't know of any company that recommends auto-land just because your sector was 5-9 hours, how would you keep proficient if you kept performing auto-lands? Besides, manual landings are easier, and if tired, humans are better when their told to do something instead of told to monitor something....

DOH I know, I said "we ask". Read the post. And most Airports I fly to, has parallel so 1 runway for ARR, 1 runway for DEP. No ATC discussion required!!

Yes our company recommends the use of automation where fatigue IS a factor. its called SOPs.

Manual ldgs may be easier for you in the Sim. But at 6am landing east, after 9 hr flt I prefer the easy option, landing using my 3 autopilots.

Proficient. I did say 3 or 4 times DOH. Read the post. Leave it alone ull go blind! Ha

DOH

Bearcat

So your a 74/77 jock Boeing boy with you triple a/p's? I know of no long haul capt throwing away a leg for an Autoland. Why, because handling is so seldom. I have never flew with an F/O who said they were jaded and could we do an Autoland meaning I take control.

I smell b/s and a lot of it.

triocha

How do pilots navigate across the atlantic ?
Like, I fly with Aer Lingus quite often Shannon to Boston & <.
I know that the earth is curved and round and the plane does not fly a straight line and I also heard that planes don't use GPS as it is not 100% spot on. So how do you boys do it ?
Also, how come you can see Ice Bergs on some trips over ? Seems you go close to green land.
Thanks

boeingboy

Bearcat wrote: »

So your a 74/77 jock Boeing boy with you triple a/p's? I know of no long haul capt throwing away a leg for an Autoland. Why, because handling is so seldom. I have never flew with an F/O who said they were jaded and could we do an Autoland meaning I take control.

I smell b/s and a lot of it.

Nope, fly the light twins!
Not long haul as such , mainly medium.
Handle alot, do about 85 hrs / month.
Ive not flown with any "jaded" F/Os either ....... not recently anyway.

Monitored approaches in my company only in Cat2/3 conditions. Cat 1 either of us can leave the ap in for landing.
Think ure mixing up a low viz operation and a simple autoland. Quite different as im sure ure aware.

Smell wot u like. I dont care frankly.
Im not here to impress you or anybody only answering a simple question.
id say ure a bit of a nightmare to fly with.
Chill.

boeingboy

triocha wrote: »

How do pilots navigate across the atlantic ?
Like, I fly with Aer Lingus quite often Shannon to Boston & <.
I know that the earth is curved and round and the plane does not fly a straight line and I also heard that planes don't use GPS as it is not 100% spot on. So how do you boys do it ?
Also, how come you can see Ice Bergs on some trips over ? Seems you go close to green land.
Thanks

Atlantic is simple.
We have a Flight Managament System (FMS). On my type(s) the fms uses Gps and Irs backed up by standard ground Vor stations, Dmes and Ndbs.
The fms has preprogrammed navigation database.
We load a most economic route for that day via acars which our dispatcher sends us and onboard with 3 paper copies.
The fms uses Gps/vors/dmes scanning their known position to locate where we are with reference to the route.......thats our position.
We use lateral nav or LNAV (a nav mode) magenta line to fly the route with the autopilot.
with that route its extremely accurate so in my company we offset the route by 2 nm to the right.

Before some old crank says theres no vor/ndbs/dmes over the water I know DOH. the gps/irs does it. slight mapshift when it updates on recieving same!

Lustrum

Bearcat wrote: »

.... I know of no long haul capt throwing away a leg for an Autoland. ....

What does this mean? If you do an autoland do you not log it or something?

Again, thanks to all for all the answers, it's interesting to see how obviously some companies SOPs are completely different to others

Shamrock231

You do log it, but no one becomes a pilot for the thrill of watching the AP do it, they like their chance to fly the thing themselves, the reason the got into the industry....

triocha

boeingboy wrote: »

Atlantic is simple.
We have a Flight Managament System (FMS). On my type(s) the fms uses Gps and Irs backed up by standard ground Vor stations, Dmes and Ndbs.
The fms has preprogrammed navigation database.
We load a most economic route for that day via acars which our dispatcher sends us and onboard with 3 paper copies.
The fms uses Gps/vors/dmes scanning their known position to locate where we are with reference to the route.......thats our position.
We use lateral nav or LNAV (a nav mode) magenta line to fly the route with the autopilot.
with that route its extremely accurate so in my company we offset the route by 1.5 nm to the right.

Before some old crank says theres no vor/ndbs/dmes over the water I know DOH. the gps/irs does it. slight mapshift when it updates on recieving same!

Thanks. I think I get it. How does the IRS work in a nutshell so?

A320

triocha wrote: »

Thanks. I think I get it. How does the IRS work in a nutshell so?

The IRS system is a lot explain to be honest without forgetting something,i did a quick search and found some gen. http://digilander.libero.it/andreatheone/irs.htm


It takes about 10mins to align,this depends on how far north/south of the equator,can take 17mins up above 70 degrees,It takes just under 10mins here in Ireland

LeftBase

Bearcat wrote: »

So your a 74/77 jock Boeing boy with you triple a/p's? I know of no long haul capt throwing away a leg for an Autoland. Why, because handling is so seldom. I have never flew with an F/O who said they were jaded and could we do an Autoland meaning I take control.

I smell b/s and a lot of it.

I was just fetching my nose peg :rolleyes: Suspicious level of jargon. Like reading the rnav textbook......;)

Who do you work for boeingboy? Because from what you have said it cannot be any known carrier.

Smell wot u like. I dont care frankly.
Im not here to impress you or anybody only answering a simple question.
id say ure a bit of a nightmare to fly with.
Chill.

Wot?

On the whole autoland situation "my company's" instructors told us that you can get down to minimums or visual with the lights and disengage to land manual. The reason being that if the vis is that low the place will be closed most likely and also full autolands can be less than gentle on the gear....hence more costs....you get the picture....

Bearcat

Lustrum wrote: »

What does this mean? If you do an autoland do you not log it

Read the posts in full, not snippets. Cheers;)