The great big "ask an airline pilot" thread!

You mean the question box with the arrow pointing forwards?

Thanks :)

Dean91 wrote: »

Hi I need to make a career change, I have always been interested in becoming a pilot, I'm not going to say its dream as my dream would be to win the lotto and just not have to work lol . I can't go to college for 4 years to get a degree.

I want something I will enjoy for the 30 years and my salary would actually be worth it . In my late 20s currently saving for a mortgage but obviously will be put back if I go down this route. I just know if I get a mortgage there is no hope of been able to do this and I'm not going to just get a mortgage because everyone my age is jumping on the bandwagon, most people I know hate there jobs or are stuck with it as have a kid.

Big question would be how hard would it be getting into the job after flight school .
I am prepared to go back to my job of 30k after training and keep working there until get in .

If I missed anything let me know, thanks in advance.

My advice would be to walk away, as cold as that sounds.

If you feel your life will genuinely not be the same without fulfilling this dream then go for it, but prepare yourself emotionally and financially to put an awful lot into it for potentially no return. Especially in this post COVID world, we have no idea when the industry will improve to a level where regular experienced hiring recommences, never mind low hour hiring (usually the sign of peak industry performance). By then you will likely be well into your 30's, I don't know what your home life is like with a wife etc but it goes without saying to take that pressure into account too.

Is it possible for you to still become a pilot? I would say yes (but i wouldn't start training now), I'd look at going modular and pacing it out over a few years, maybe get a crack on with the ground school if you have time to manage it with full time work.

Is it worth it for you to become a pilot? That depends entirely on how much you want it. There are lots of moany people in the game and who spend all day telling their colleague beside them about how they would have made a great barrister, company director etc etc and how our job is **** in comparison - these are the people who never asked themselves did they genuinely love flying as much as they thought they did, because when everything else is going wrong it's all you'll have to hold onto. I don't mean that to sound dramatic, but just don't get involved unless you can really see yourself loving the job because there's no way back once the big bucks are spent.

Muahahaha wrote: »

This is a bit leftfield but that Ryanair plane the other day that had a bomb threat was escorted by a couple of fighter jets in Norway. Article said "The captain followed procedures and continued to Oslo airport where the plane landed safely". Whats the procedures here? How did the Norwegian air force ascertain it was a hoax and what happens if they thought it was credible?

There are emergency procedures published for 'bomb on board', part of it includes trying to descend to reduce the cabin pressure differential (reduces the destruction were a bomb to go off), if you identify a bag or rucksack that allegedly has a bomb in it then you try to hang it to a door or cover it with other items. After landing you'll proceed to a remote stand far from the terminal building.

you identify a bag or rucksack that allegedly has a bomb in it then you

depressurise, open a specific door and throw it out:):) Much easier approach

No no no, pressure switches

Yes yes yes yes.
\

I have an SOP to do it

“Throw the device out using a strong outward and downward motion.”

smurfjed wrote: »

Yes yes yes yes.
\

I have an SOP to do it

“Throw the device out using a strong outward and downward motion.”

It's the LRBL procedure, the A320 SOP doesn't suggest throwing anything out the window....

I took the post as a joke and presume it is

No joke, I can send you the complete Operational Information Supplement that covers at a guess over 2000 actual aircraft.

@Growler, thank you, that’s the one I was talking about :)

Welcome back to boards

Growler!!! wrote: »

I gather that your question is more to do with what the Air Force response will be as opposed to airline SOP's for a bomb on board.
Suffice to say that any quick reaction intervention from an air force will be with armed aircraft. Ultimately the weapons on board are only designed for one thing, the outcome of which would have been discussed at the highest level.

If communications are still available with the flight crew, they will be directed to land at a designated airport such as Stansted for the UK. From there ground forces will take over and investigate.

The case of Helios flight 522 is an example of an interception where the crew were incapacitated and could not be contacted. The intercepting aircraft were able to ascertain that the crew were unconscious and the masks had deployed in the cabin. The Helios flight followed the flight plan in its flight computer into a holding pattern and maintained altitude until it ran out of fuel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helios_Airways_Flight_522

Thanks Growler. Its a rare occurrence but the Ryanair flight to Norway last week had got me thinking about what air forces procedures are. Its such a difficulty for them to ascertain if a bomb threat is credible or not and decisions have to be made at a high level very,very quickly.

That Hellios crash you linked is interesting. Sad it happened because an engineer failed to reset the pressurisation system to auto having tested it on manual. And then the crew misinterpreting warning alarms as the plane gained altitude before they all lost consciousness. Though fortunate that it crashed into a hill side rather than a heavily populated area of Athens.

I wonder though with the auto pilot technology that is available if modern aircraft could be controlled remotely by a pilot in a simulator to land it in the event of the crew falling unconscious? Id guess it would be possible but is such a rare event that the manufacturers dont add that feature, plus the extra costs of it. But if it did exist they might have saved 121 lives there.

sysprogrammer wrote: »

Let's stop the pointless back and forth right here. next time I'll ask a different airline pilot.

Well this one thinks you need your head read if you are contemplating getting into this industry at the moment. IF you get a job (most do not) you are likely to get what effectively amounts to a zero hours contract. And there will be no shortage of people falling over themselves to sign on the dotted line. Stay doing the day job and enjoy recreational flying would be my advice.

basill wrote: »

Well this one thinks you need your head read if you are contemplating getting into this industry at the moment. IF you get a job (most do not) you are likely to get what effectively amounts to a zero hours contract. And there will be no shortage of people falling over themselves to sign on the dotted line. Stay doing the day job and enjoy recreational flying would be my advice.

Basill , the tone of your comments ,and Smurfs isn't lost on me.
Head read from yourself , Flying school salesman from Smurf. really ??

I'd never once suggested leaving the day job, I merely did not agree with smurf.
training for ATPL is a multi year event , and the entire landscape will not be the same as present conditions. zero hours contracts or not.

@california dreamer : too early to tell. they were not the first airline to ever go under and surely won't be the last. my own previous instructor was ex-Ansett.

I guess my point here is , if anyone wants to learn to fly ,then go fly, it does not cost 100,000+ for a few lessons, and don't take advice from random internet posts :-)


@Tenger, apologies, it wasn't my intention to derail this thread, won't post again. simply calling out the not so nice putdowns.
/end

I have a Question!

When Approaching a runway on arrival in a commercial airiner, Is the Pilot vectored to the ILS/Localizer or is the pilot told to fly a certain STAR approach?

I always wondered and especially now in the new Flight Simulator when you aren't vectored any more(Or told to fly a certain approach as its all inputted at the start before you load the flight) .

Cheers

The numbers quoted in this article are insane.

In a document seen by AirlineGeeks, the director of Commercial and Customer Experience at L3Harris, Garry Cross, informed students with the following: “We will transfer the funds paid by you to date for the MPL program to the ATPL course. However, based on the training you have completed and the anticipated additional training you will be required to complete in respect of non-transferable flight hours, there will be an additional cost payable by you of £64,095.83 due to the need to re-perform some of the non-transferable training lessons. Your total cost of training will now be £173,095.83 ($220,593.33).”

Full article here https://airlinegeeks.com/2020/09/25/major-european-flight-school-charging-students-81-000-to-convert-licences/

It confirms the aircraft has the latest weather for the aerodrome, the QNH and current runway(s) in use.

Bleak wrote: »

Thanks. And the significance of the letter?

Information given now will might be Mike. Then if the info is updated the letter changes.

So if an aircraft descending says it has information Mike, the controller can tell them to check information November indicating it has been updated since they listened.