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The great big "ask an airline pilot" thread!

pclancy

This thread is for people who are interested in a commercial career in flying to ask a qualified commercial pilot questions about their daily lives, technical/system questions, career guidance, licencing, how best to become an airline pilot etc

Over time it will become full of good nuggets of information and serve as a good reference point for people wanting a career in the flight deck.

It is not intended for general discussion, general aviation or PPL questions, chit-chat, discussion of sensitive hr/corporate airline information or anything that could break the A&A forum charter.

Asking Questions: Please only post if you are asking or answering a question so as to keep it nice and tidy. commercial pilots are requested to include their licence type, relevant rating held and hours in their response ie ATPL(F), 738, 500. I don't expect you to divulge your airline or personal details but at least it might serve as some proof to your credentials

We'll see how it goes and sticky if its busy enough.

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Comments

xflyer

Why would the first officer say anything stupid?

Anything that's unscripted and off the cuff has the potential to be stupid. The temptation is to try and say something clever or witty. This can and will end in disaster.

I remember recently turning to my startled passengers and crew and shouting, 'We're going down'. The look of dismay prompted a rapid re-phrasing. 'No, I mean we're landing'.

Lesson learnt.:o

XWB

xflyer wrote: »

Anything that's unscripted and off the cuff has the potential to be stupid. The temptation is to try and say something clever or witty. This can and will end in disaster.

I remember recently turning to my startled passengers and crew and shouting, 'We're going down'. The look of dismay prompted a rapid re-phrasing. 'No, I mean we're landing'.

Lesson learnt.:o

I remember cabin crew announcements for Phil McGee and Les Behan. Raised a chuckle.

Cessna_Pilot

xflyer wrote: »

Anything that's unscripted and off the cuff has the potential to be stupid. The temptation is to try and say something clever or witty. This can and will end in disaster.

And a Captain won't?

Tenger

vicwatson wrote: »

Yes, they charge for using the facility but sure... par for the course with Ryanair, but how come one can use a "mobile" phone whilst airborne anyway...?

I believe the aircraft has a cell network apparatus installed so the mobile phone locks onto to it rather than frantically sending out signals trying to get a reception at 36K feet. The onboard cell system then makes contact with a ground/satellite based receiver station.

And to response to Cessna Pilot: we have no assurance that the captain won't make a mistake over the PA, but we'll give them the benefit of the doubt!!!!

A320

Iv often heard crews mistakenly make announcments over the radio,a big long long one by the virgin atlantic comes to mind!! Cringe!! Ha the replies from other aircraft on frequency are funny!!

scholar007

Ya know in Top Gun when Tom Cruise slams on the brakes and the persuing fighter just flies by allowing good ol Tom to get on its tail and release the sidewinder - Is that real? - Can it actually be done and if so were WW2 pilots wasting their time trying to shake an enemy fighter off?

See below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8rZWw9HE7o

cuterob

scholar007 wrote: »

Ya know in Top Gun when Tom Cruise slams on the brakes and the persuing fighter just flies by allowing good ol Tom to get on its tail and release the sidewinder - Is that real? - Can it actually be done and if so were WW2 pilots wasting their time trying to shake an enemy fighter off?

See below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8rZWw9HE7o

actually can kind of be done in a harrier using reverse thrust

RobAMerc

hi,

great idea for a thread and thanks for answering all the q's pilots.

1 or two q's I have - sorry if any have been answered before.

1 - watching some vids of the A380 approach and landing the pilots asked / or stated they would use the full lenght of the runway, is this normal and if so why ?

2 - why are cabin lights dimmed for take-off and landing ?

3 - on modern air liners do you manually trim the plane or is this done automatically ?

4 - why dont they introduce a scales in the undercarrige in order to give an exact takeoff weight to the pilot rather than have him estimate it.

5 - is there any european airports that are very tricky to fly into ( Salburg maybe )

lastly - could it rain hard enough to cause engines water issues ?

I have so many more but I'm half asleep if you dont mind I'll be back !

thanks again
Rob

scudzilla

RobAMerc wrote: »

5 - is there any european airports that are very tricky to fly into ( Salburg maybe )

Check this one out, it's Skiathos in Greece, Apparently the runway is so short they have to take off wit a small fuel load and stop off in Italy for a top up!!

Have any of the pilots here ever flown there??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9hAJQTcxY0

cuterob

RobAMerc wrote: »

2 - why are cabin lights dimmed for take-off and landing ?

i think it's to do with being in an emergency situation that the emergency lighting can be seen and people can escape easier

Delta Kilo

RobAMerc wrote: »

hi,
lastly - could it rain hard enough to cause engines water issues ?

Generally no, unless it is an unreal deluge of rain/water.

When the rain hits the fan blade, centrifugal force pushes the water to the edge towards the fan shroud and the water ends up blowing through the bypass, never going in to the core.

I dont know if it is design or coincidence that causes that, but either way that is what happens.

xflyer

Scholar:

Ya know in Top Gun when Tom Cruise slams on the brakes....

In theory but nothing in Top Gun is real. It's just a movie. The F14 could have tracked the enemy nearly two hundred miles away have shot down the 'Mig' over a hundred miles away. They would never get that close. It bears no resemblance to real air combat. Great fun to watch though.

RobAMerc

3 - on modern air liners do you manually trim the plane or is this done automatically ?

Not just airliners, even well equipped light aircraft can have that. There's always a manual back up though.

4 - why dont they introduce a scales in the undercarrige in order to give an exact takeoff weight to the pilot rather than have him estimate it.

Suggest it to Boeing and Airbus. But it's not practical anyway. Easier to work it out.

lastly - could it rain hard enough to cause engines water issues ?

Yes in fact it has happened at least once. DC9 I think. The recommendation now is to turn on the engine ignitors in heavy rain. Normally they're only on for start up and switched off in flight because combustion is self sustaining. Like a blow torch.

A320

I dont think those dc9 jt8d engines would even have a bypass,if so,nothing on the scale of a modern turbofan,thus a problem

xflyer

Actually the JT8D is what's called a low bypass engine. In later models they increased the bypass ratio slightly.

globemaster1986

shaneoreillyo wrote: »

hello.
my dream is to be a commercial pilot.
im in leaving cert at the moment.
i saw adds for cources in waterford pilot training college and cork atlantic.
im just wondering which is "better" in terms of having contacts to getting a job after your qualified. i also saw waterford help you aquire loans do atlantic do this if ye know.
what age is it to start the atpl my neighbours nephew said 21 but my friends brother said 18 they are both pilots so dona how i got different answers.
oh and im looking air traffic control aswell is it hard to get a job in that sector
thanks very much in advance

Just sat the air law ATPL exam last month so:D:

Minimum age for an ATPL holder is 21, Maximum 59. Minimum age for a CPL holder is 18 years old. So you can sit the ATPL exams before age 21 but the ATPL itself will be "frozen" until you reach the age of 21 and fulfill the minimum hours requirements (which is 1,500 hrs but there are also stipulations on so many hours PIC, XC, instrument etc etc)

Tenger

cuterob wrote: »

i think it's to do with being in an emergency situation that the emergency lighting can be seen and people can escape easier

Having the lights dimmed or off allows pax vision to adjust to the ambient light levels outside, so if they have to evacuate they will not be blinded by glare or night blind when they get to the exit door.

Lustrum

Do you find that the interface for the onboard systems differ much on modern aircraft these days? Would the A330 guys fell that they could hop into a 777 and fly it no problem, or would there be a lot of new stuff to learn in a conversion?

eatmyshorts

Lustrum wrote: »

Do you find that the interface for the onboard systems differ much on modern aircraft these days? Would the A330 guys fell that they could hop into a 777 and fly it no problem, or would there be a lot of new stuff to learn in a conversion?

I have done an A330 to B777 conversion. The actual flying of an aircraft doesn't differ greatly from type to type and only accounts for maybe 5% of what has to be learned.
The difficult bit is learning new systems and operating procedures and in the case of going from an Airbus to a Boeing or vice versa, new operating philosophies.

Lustrum

As both Aer Lingus and British Airways have both recently offered cadetships, how do you feel about the way flight training has gone and in particular having to pay for a type rating?

There's a lot of negative comment about it on pprune, but if Ryanair and €28k for a type rating is your only option (particularly if you haven't done either OAA or FTE integrated course) are there any other routes open to people who are taking the modular route in Ireland?

searescue

How many RTO's would an avergae short-haul captain execute in a year/career?

Are they common?

wittymoniker

searescue wrote: »

How many RTO's would an avergae short-haul captain execute in a year/career?

Are they common?

Outside the sim? Minimal, think I've had two in many thousands of takeoffs.

XWB

searescue wrote: »

How many RTO's would an avergae short-haul captain execute in a year/career?

Are they common?

I had 3 over my whole career.

One was a burst tire and the other 2 were airspeed disagree.

Priority Right

Lustrum wrote: »

As both Aer Lingus and British Airways have both recently offered cadetships, how do you feel about the way flight training has gone and in particular having to pay for a type rating?

There's a lot of negative comment about it on pprune, but if Ryanair and €28k for a type rating is your only option (particularly if you haven't done either OAA or FTE integrated course) are there any other routes open to people who are taking the modular route in Ireland?

I don't agree with people having to pay for type ratings. But I also don't agree that people should be put down for doing so. If there were plenty of instructing jobs or turboprop jobs going and someone paid for a type rating/line training then I can understand why everyone is angry. But there are very very few instructing or turboprop jobs going. I was unemployed for 2 years and people told me to get a freighter job. Eh yeah I'd love that if there was any available. People send out hundreds of C.V's with very few replys. Asia and Africa are even swamped with pilots. Look at Maun and places like that. Now there are 10 pilots for every 1 job there and that's in Botswanna never mind turboprop in Europe where hundreds apply for 1 position.

If you have a job lined up and have to pay for a type rating you'd be mad to turn it down because if you do they'll just turn to the next guy and he will pay and he'll earn it back in 6 months working.

lazywhole

Great Thread !!

Whats the typical long haul roster. How many days off would you have off between trips ?

XWB

lazywhole wrote: »

Great Thread !!

Whats the typical long haul roster. How many days off would you have off between trips ?

Fly out say 11am Irish Monday

Arrive the other end in NY say at 12:30 - 1 EST Monday.

You are then in NY until Tuesday evening and you fly back and arrive in Dublin 6-7am Wednesday morning.

Usually You'd do it all again Friday.

You'd do may 3 of them and then have about 4 days off and go again.

That was approx the roster I had in Aer Lingus when I left. It varies with seniority kind of.

787Dreamliner

did you find the trip's across the pond quite long and boring?? what was the crew's workload like during the cruise.?? what else would ye do during the flight.? apart from the normal position and fuel checks ect..

what was the longest flight you have done..?

XWB

787Dreamliner wrote: »

did you find the trip's across the pond quite long and boring?? what was the crew's workload like during the cruise.?? what else would ye do during the flight.? apart from the normal position and fuel checks ect..

what was the longest flight you have done..?

No they were never boring. Over the years you get used to it. As they say when you've been somewhere once the trip the next time is always quicker.
In any case we were busy monitoring everything. Generally speaking the rule of thumb is "if you are doing nothing you are doing something"...something wrong that is. You would be monitoring instruments to make sure they were reading properly and looking at fuel to make sure it was lower than when you last checked, various Ts&Ps, altitude, speed, course, time, ETA revision, checking on delays, weather on route and the possibility of having to go over or around it etc, and in the last hour or so of cruise going over arrival and expected or advised approach procedures.

Longest flight I did was the old DUB - LAX...12 hours over, about 10 and a bit back. The odd occasion you got a relief crew(odd occasion some FO fresh off TR would be slotted in to get some experiance in the 747 or A330[it was abig a320 so the more recent ones didnt need much] in the seat with a training Captain..that gave the SFO and Captain a chance to go get a cuppa or stretch his legs..we rarely slept..well I never did).
The DUB - SFO was long enough too mind you.

A320

Iv a question for an airbus driver,can you explain that the expedite button on the FCU does??? Thanks

XWB

A320 wrote: »

Iv a question for an airbus driver,can you explain that the expedite button on the FCU does??? Thanks

It gets you to your altitude in best time by adopting the best climb speed. So if you really want to get to 20,000 fast you select 20,000 and hit exped and the aircraft will adopt best climb speed to get you up there as quick as it's little wings can.

I should point out that it also works with decent...however it would be used more in the climb in my experiance...as you dont want to decend too fast with pax onboard!

A320

Thank you xwb