The great big "ask an airline pilot" thread!

RangeR

Is it my imagination or were you lot told to put your mickies away?
You are RUINING a great thread.

LeftBase

RangeR wrote: »

Is it my imagination or were you lot told to put your mickies away?
You are RUINING a great thread.

I know I apologise!

Tenger

IngazZagni wrote: »

I was taxiing past an Easyjet the other day and noticed it had it's wingtip fences missing on one side. I'm not familiar with Airbus but I guess they are not too important if it can be dispatched for flight like that. They are a lot smaller than most winglets though.

The original A320-100 did not have wingtips, they were an addition for the A320-200. (I think only about 2o -100's were built)

BA A320-100 at LIN by tearbringer, on Flickr

There was an incident early in the operational career of the A380 where (my recollection may be a bit sketchy here) an SQ aircraft hit a hanger door. The wingtip was damaged and removed, the aircraft was able to operate back to home base with certain performance restrictions.


Keep in mind that winglets are primarily an efficiency device/addition. They lessen fuel burn on longer sectors. Both the A320/B737/B757/747 were all originally designed with no winglets/wingtips.

ChicaneAuto

I've heard pilots approaching Dublin being asked to report on wind at a certain level.
Just wondering, in a heavy jet is this measured in some way or is it determined by the fmc through course correction for wind. And how is it presented to the pilot? In a simple readout or does he/she have to do some deduction?

LeftBase

ChicaneAuto wrote: »

I've heard pilots approaching Dublin being asked to report on wind at a certain level.
Just wondering, in a heavy jet is this measured in some way or is it determined by the fmc through course correction for wind. And how is it presented to the pilot? In a simple readout or does he/she have to do some deduction?

The pilot will get a readout of wind speed and direction. Most of the time when asked to report the winds at a certain level this refers to loss of airspeed through wind shear.

MightyDucks

Do you have to be able to swim to become an airline pilot?

Priority Right

MightyDucks wrote: »

Do you have to be able to swim to become an airline pilot?

You have to do a swim test. For us it was 2 lengths of a pool. Once with lifejacket inflated once without. Then we had to "rescue" a mate by dragging them 1 length of the pool. That was it. Don't need to be a great swimmer. Just able to do the above.

pclancy

From now on I will ban anyone for any post that is not either a question for a commercial pilot or answer from a commercial pilot.

smurfjed

Lustrum, we work on an airline credit time system, so lowest credit person is assigned the next flight. We have 10 straight days off per month, (plus 40 vacation) but for the other 20 you know your standby position according to the credit time list. We also go a little further than that by assigning specific flights/destinations to a rota, for example i went across the atlantic a couple of months ago, I wont go again until all my colleagues have had the same opportunity.

As for saving time/fuel/money, thats the fun part about flying, there is no point in sticking directly to the flight plan and not asking for shortcuts, or changing levels to get better winds, although what we save in fuel is probably then wasted in buying caviar Our commercial pressures are slightly different, I went across the atlantic last year with someone who had a 9:30am appointment with Obama, the head winds were horrendous, now that's pressure

I was involved in contractual negotiations with Boeing a couple of years ago for a BBJ3 and later a B748-VIP, the Jumbo was delivered by Boeing recently, however the interior will take a couple of years and probably cost more than the airframe. We also recently put a B744 into operation (our 4th Jumbo ), its the worlds first 3 level aircraft, with an absolutely amazing interior. If i ever find pictures of the interior on the net, i will link them, i have never taken pictures inside the aircraft as it's way too sensitive. It's a surreal world to work in, but it pays well, the flights are fun and the time off is great.

smurfjed.....

smurfjed

Both the A320/B737/B757/747 were all originally designed with no winglets/wingtips.

The funny thing about this is that some Boeing engineers designed the blended winglets for the B737, Boeing refused to incorporate them into the design, so these guys went off and set up their own company, Aviation Partners, now Boeing buys the winglets off them

Aviation Partners Boeing has developed Blended Winglet programs for the Boeing 757, which can save 300,000 gallons per year,

Thats a lot of cost savings with the present cost of fuel.

smurfjet

Lustrum

Are all you flights non-smoking aswell? Or do your clients just do what they want on board? Do you as pilots get fed what the clients get fed? I presume you're not making your own sandwiches every day!

smurfjed

Smoking depends on the VIP, as its a different culture, smoking is very common with total disrespect of non-smokers in the vicinity. Crew meals are provided, however, there is ample passenger food available if we want variety. To be honest I hate eating when flying and have never eaten a meal sitting in the cockpit because I hate the idea of sitting in the same place for hours following eating a big meal, but i am addicted to our cheese plates

Some of the planes have their own chefs who prepare the food in some hotel prior to the flight, this ensures that the passengers get their favourite food and dont get poisoned

smurfjed

yaeger

Smurfjed

Are they hiring ? PM if you wish. Any details would be appreciated. Just covering all bases :-)

bluecode

Yes smurfjed, you've sold me. I want your job. Sorry PCclancy, that's never a question from a or too a commercial pilot. So ban me.

Beats the hell out of my current flying job.

smurfjed

Yaegar, unfortunately not, we will be the last foreigners to fly in these aircraft......

Bluecode, I got the feeling that you flew "jumpers", if so, thats one of the places where I started, while we were not as famous as the original two pilots, my best friednd and I ended up being more "infamous"...... Now I fly where I am, he flies A330's for EK.... So hang in there, its a path that most of us have traversed......

smurfjed

yaeger

Well enjoy it Smurfjed, it looks different and different always seems good :-)
+1 on the meatbombing... was prob the best fun I ever had.

Strumms

How often on average in your airlines do you come up with a schedule where your heart just sinks when you are paired with a certain personality in the cockpit ?

I am just wondering as I had lunch with one of our f/o's today who is on a layover. He is paired with a very senior captain who I can verify Is a complete and utter prick to deal with no matter what tact or otherwise is used so we were sharing a few stories as he is quite infamous throughout the system.

LeftBase

Strumms wrote: »

How often on average in your airlines do you come up with a schedule where your heart just sinks when you are paired with a certain personality in the cockpit ?

I am just wondering as I had lunch with one of our f/o's today who is on a layover. He is paired with a very senior captain who I can verify Is a complete and utter prick to deal with no matter what tact or otherwise is used so we were sharing a few stories as he is quite infamous throughout the system.

Where I work it is rare to be paired with the same guy very often. But some guys are a little bit stuck up their own backside and you would rather avoid them if possible. There is one guy in my place who is a former RAF officer and seems to think all who were not are sub standard and in need of his expert smartass jibes and condescending rubbish.

At the end of the day pilots have to be professionals and as professionals you worry 1st about getting the plane and passengers to where they need to be safe and sound and secondly about the twonk you hate sitting next to you! You're not being paid to make friends

Strumms

LeftBase wrote: »

Where I work it is rare to be paired with the same guy very often. But some guys are a little bit stuck up their own backside and you would rather avoid them if possible. There is one guy in my place who is a former RAF officer and seems to think all who were not are sub standard and in need of his expert smartass jibes and condescending rubbish.

At the end of the day pilots have to be professionals and as professionals you worry 1st about getting the plane and passengers to where they need to be safe and sound and secondly about the twonk you hate sitting next to you! You're not being paid to make friends

Interesting, thanks. The airline I work for are a US airline. A lot of the guys come from a Navy or Air Force background as does this grumpy creature and they do seem to be the ones with personality 'issues'. My bud yesterday mentioned that there is somewhat of a clique between the ex military guys at certain bases and a bit of a snooty attitude to those from civilian life such as himself. To be honest most of our guys are great to deal with but some of the more senior individuals especially from the above background in the system, well just lets say there isnt any pleasing them.

LeftBase

Strumms wrote: »

Interesting, thanks. The airline I work for are a US airline. A lot of the guys come from a Navy or Air Force background as does this grumpy creature and they do seem to be the ones with personality 'issues'. My bud yesterday mentioned that there is somewhat of a clique between the ex military guys at certain bases and a bit of a snooty attitude to those from civilian life such as himself. To be honest most of our guys are great to deal with but some of the more senior individuals especially from the above background in the system, well just lets say there isnt any pleasing them.

Better still is when they leave the air force as a high ranking flight officer and end up as an FO under some "civie" Captain with half their flight experience.....that's when it gets a bit messy!:D

smurfjed

I have already explained that we work on a low time credit system for our flight allocations, but as the question was asked about how often commercial crews flew together, i think that i will take the opportunity to explain how the system works for my other colleagues, we have about 1700 pilots on the seniority list split across 4 divisions.
Marketing decides where the airline flies and how often, together with the aircraft type selected for the route, for example we have B777-200s with 3 different cabin interiors, 1 for Europe, USA, 1 for Asia and high density. When the schedule is developed, it translates into a certain number of flight hours per day and per month for each aircraft. This is provided to the crewing department who use software called Aircrews from Sabre Aviation Solutions together with Carmen software from Boeing to produce monthly "Lines", the lines will show a month of expected duty, together with days off, guaranteed days off, Standby duties, reserve duties and training.
These lines are provided to crews at the start of a month, based on their seniority they get to bid for what they want to do the following month. Each person is different as they will want to bid for specific days off, for maximum days off, destinations, or money.
Whats available will depend on the fleet type, for example the B747-400 mainly operates to Manila, its about 22 hours roundtrip based over 3 days, so a crew member may only do 4 of these a month and have the other 18 days off. We only have a couple of these left in service so its hard for a crew to chase overtime. On the other hand, we have about 40 A320's, these aircraft fly short and long flights (6-7 hours) I will add that some of them have additional fuel tanks and not a lot of seats
So a crew member flying the A320 can really chase overtime, with productivity starting at 45 block hours, overtime at 75 credit hours, and another allowance kicking in with a certain percentage of the monthly guarantee time, this is leading to Captains earning around 20k per month NET, and First Officers around 13K per month NET. Leftbase will tell you how that compares to an European carrier.
With crew compliments measured in the 100's, it's still possible for two crew members to spend the month together because the Sabre system can created the same line for Captains and First Officers, this will happen on fleets with equal numbers of crew, on fleets like the A320 that have a larger number of First Officers due to training purposes, the Captain versus First Officer lines won't be identical.
If someone is paired with someone whom they don't get on with, they have the option of reporting to their fleet management, or signing sick.

smurfjed

hidinginthebush

LeftBase wrote: »

Where I work it is rare to be paired with the same guy very often. But some guys are a little bit stuck up their own backside and you would rather avoid them if possible. There is one guy in my place who is a former RAF officer and seems to think all who were not are sub standard and in need of his expert smartass jibes and condescending rubbish.

At the end of the day pilots have to be professionals and as professionals you worry 1st about getting the plane and passengers to where they need to be safe and sound and secondly about the twonk you hate sitting next to you! You're not being paid to make friends

That made me think of this : http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5663618/iceman_the_later_years/

LeftBase

hidinginthebush wrote: »

That made me think of this : http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5663618/iceman_the_later_years/

That is more or less the way it is with some......

scudzilla

Could a pilot, in theory, fly from Dublin to say, Majorca, with no instruments or charts whatsoever? By just looking out of the window to see where he is?

Julius Seizure

scudzilla wrote: »

Could a pilot, in theory, fly from Dublin to say, Majorca, with no instruments or charts whatsoever? By just looking out of the window to see where he is?

Not a pilot but regardless of anything else cloud cover could be a problem.

Tenger

scudzilla wrote: »

Could a pilot, in theory, fly from Dublin to say, Majorca, with no instruments or charts whatsoever? By just looking out of the window to see where he is?

Well no. You would need charts to be able to match the landscape below to where you want to go. Instruments would be helpful as knowing your airspeed allows you to judge where you are above.

guttenberg

How difficult is it for a pilot to get certified for a different type of airplane? I assume there is variations in controls/normal procedures etc. but is it easy enough to get airlines to stump up for the training or once trained on a particular plane that's usually the plane for your entire career?

LeftBase

guttenberg wrote: »

How difficult is it for a pilot to get certified for a different type of airplane? I assume there is variations in controls/normal procedures etc. but is it easy enough to get airlines to stump up for the training or once trained on a particular plane that's usually the plane for your entire career?

It isn't hard to learn to fly a new type of plane. There are slight variations but it is manageable. Larger airlines like Aer Lingus, BA etc will pay for your training on the aircraft(called a Type Rating) but carriers like Ryanair and Aer Arran will not, you must pay for the training yourself.

When you enter Aer Lingus for example you start on the Airbus A320 and will spend a couple of years as a First Officer on that. When the opportunity(you're next on the seniority list) arises you will be offered the chance to train on the Airbus A330 and fly long haul to the States etc as a First Officer.

Other airlines operate similar operations.

keith16

What does the term 'rotation' mean when taking off? I often watch "air crash investigations" and they always say "rotate" just as they pitch the nose up for take off.

Also, what is the role of the flight engineer? Does this role even exist anymore?

LeftBase

scudzilla wrote: »

Could a pilot, in theory, fly from Dublin to say, Majorca, with no instruments or charts whatsoever? By just looking out of the window to see where he is?

I wont say no because it is possible if he knew the coast of France/Spain well enough from a nav point of view. With NO instruments however you would have no airspeed or altitude readout and that would make life very hard and dangerous(as well as making the aircraft un-airworthy:D)