The great big "ask an airline pilot" thread!

Saying your flying along and you have your AutoPilot set to altitude hold.
you then manually increase the speed. Does the plan continue to hold altitude ?

If so how does it do so ?

The 757 and 747 are not a common type rating, therefore he will have to complete a full type rating course for either the right or left seats. I have read that they will use either a -100 or a -400, is there actually a -100 simulator certified for use in the UK?

smurfjed wrote: »

The 757 and 747 are not a common type rating, therefore he will have to complete a full type rating course for either the right or left seats. I have read that they will use either a -100 or a -400, is there actually a -100 simulator certified for use in the UK?

Is there a working -100 simulator anywhere in the world at this stage?

is there something different with the A321 where the cabin lights are kept on during landing? Just saw a EI flight from Malaga go over me at ~1,600 ft with them on. At the same altitude on other aircraft, they are off.

N64 wrote: »

is there something different with the A321 where the cabin lights are kept on during landing? Just saw a EI flight from Malaga go over me at ~1,600 ft with them on. At the same altitude on other aircraft, they are off.

Could it be that the cabin wasnt secured yet for landing? And the cabin lights had not been dimmed yet. Never noticed anything like the above myself.

Hi guys,

Just wondering what the '-100' and '-400' are referring to with regards simulators a few posts back?

Cheers.

Growler!!! wrote: »

When a manufacturer brings out an improved model of an existing design they will often give it a series number to distinguish it from the older one.

In this example the posters were discussing the Boeing 747. The first of which was designated the Boeing 747-100. Subsequent improvements over the years have brought us the -100, -200, -300 and -8 series.

Here's an interesting link with info on the differences and why some series numbers were skipped: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747

If I may - just to add on top of your excellent answer, it is not always used for subsequent versions as it was in the case of 747.. for example Boeing 737 NG series -600, -700, -800 were announced nearly at the same time and they carry almost the same technology, in this case they are used to in accordance with their size/range, starting from the 123-seater -600 series all the way to 200+seater -900 series (bigger variant gets a bigger number).

Thats a nice FMS modification by Airbus, I'm assuming that it is a result of the 330 crash. I flew with one Honeywell FMS that allowed you to select each navigation source and see the associated data, this included the two GPS's, so you could see GPS speed and GPS altitude, combing that with pitch/power/attitude and unreliable airspeed wasn't a problem.

Now I'm getting to play with a different Honeywell FMS that appears to allow you ARM the navigation source, but won't display the data, unless of course EatMyShorts knows the secret :)

smurfjed wrote: »

Other sites have comments that these newly arrived aircraft are getting parked due to lack of crew!

Supposedly a boat load of pilots from Ireland and the UK are on the move back out of the desert, few friends of mine over there and they are saying Emirates have gotten worse than Ryanair now for the way they treat the staff

You can also display the GPS speed and altitude on the MCDU.

Re the BUSS - it should only be used below FL 250, above that you fly pitch and thrust. To get the BUSS you need to turn off all ADR's. For flap extension, you just fly the lower (slower) end of the green before extending each stage of flap. The 'green' area is actually based on angle of attack information rather than speed. Great little gizmo.

EILAX wrote: »

Whats the point of a No Smoking sign still on the overhead if smoking is banned on all commercial airlines worldwide?

On newer aircraft it is replaced with a "No Devices" sign:)

Not all countries banned smoking on aircraft at the same time.

According to a recent Flight International article on Ryanair pilot training:

"... almost 50% (of applicant pilots in the simulator assessment) consistently fail, despite being the products of approved commercial pilot licence/instrument rating (CPL/IR) courses at [Approved Training Organisations.]"

In light of this, what are your views on training, flight schools in particular? And what do you think needs to change to ensure airlines like Ryanair can meet demand for pilots?

basill wrote: »

Why does FR failing cadets in a sim assessment mean that they were poorly trained. What's the basis for this rationale. People fail sims for lots of reasons.

It doesn't necessarily mean they were poorly trained but I think it does highlight certain things like not training students to the standards that airlines require. An important aspect they highlighted was the lack of CRM training in flight schools. After all everything up to getting your CPL and Instrument rating is single pilot ops. After this many schools say goodbye to you.

The MCC is an extremely important part of training and many treat it like just a tick the box excercise when in reality it is a vital training aspect for training students into the airline world. So in short many may be good pilots but can't or are not used to working in a team environment and this is were they fall down.

A quick back of a fag packet calculations gives:

Aircraft used on 4 flights a day for 30 days
4x30=120 flights

There are 40 A320 family aircraft in the fleet
120x40=4800 flights per month

You fly twice a month then
4800/2=2400

So there is a 1 in 2400 chance this will happen.
At 2 trips a month or 24 trips a year then the probability will be 1 event in 100 years!!

All figures are rounded and guessed at. Your chances will be increased or decreased around the above figures but it gives you an idea. The very next flight you are are on could be the one! That's why your crew are put through their paces every six months in a simulator.