Ask a Pilot anything....
Discussion
Cold said:
Will forgetting to turn off my phone really cause the plane to fall out of the sky?
I can answer that one, one of my best friends is a Captain for Jet2. No it won't, it's to stop unbearable static on the pilots comms. You know the interference noise which you used to sometimes hear through old TV's and stereos from your mobile? That's what they'd constantly be hearing. Not really a great thing for safety, not being able to clearly hear the tower. Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah said:
Cold said:
Will forgetting to turn off my phone really cause the plane to fall out of the sky?
I can answer that one, one of my best friends is a Captain for Jet2. No it won't, it's to stop unbearable static on the pilots comms. You know the interference noise which you used to sometimes hear through old TV's and stereos from your mobile? That's what they'd constantly be hearing. Not really a great thing for safety, not being able to clearly hear the tower. 
Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah said:
I can answer that one, one of my best friends is a Captain for Jet2. No it won't, it's to stop unbearable static on the pilots comms. You know the interference noise which you used to sometimes hear through old TV's and stereos from your mobile? That's what they'd constantly be hearing. Not really a great thing for safety, not being able to clearly hear the tower.
That would explain why the pilot might switch off his phone but asking someone tens of feet away to do so for that reason is far fetched. Switch a speaker on in your house and see how close you have to get before your phone interferes with it. Many airlines allow you to send texts whilst in the air now, if they thought phones would cause interference with comms that would not be possible.A lack of any real enforcement indicates just how little concern phones actually are.
Let’s be honest it’s a combination of not wanting to test whether 400 phones can actually mess with equipment, wanting people to shut up, look up and follow the safety briefings and also not piss each other off in an enclosed space with their inane chatter.
Flight - Denzel Washington.
On a scale of 0-100 with 0 being "utter garbage, couldn't possibly work, a total fabrication for Hollywood" to 100 being "Utterly brilliant flying, perhaps two or three pilots in commercial aviation could pull of such a manouevre", what does the upside-down stunt score?
On a scale of 0-100 with 0 being "utter garbage, couldn't possibly work, a total fabrication for Hollywood" to 100 being "Utterly brilliant flying, perhaps two or three pilots in commercial aviation could pull of such a manouevre", what does the upside-down stunt score?
If you took a reasonably intellectual person off the street and gave them unlimited instruction in a simulator, how long would you expect to take to train someone to fly an actual 777 from Heathrow to New York?
The question assumes that absolutely everything proceeds as normal on the flight and there are no unexpected occurrences to deal with. In other words, a flight that was as straightforward as such a flight could possibly be.
My wildest guess is just 100 hours.
The question assumes that absolutely everything proceeds as normal on the flight and there are no unexpected occurrences to deal with. In other words, a flight that was as straightforward as such a flight could possibly be.
My wildest guess is just 100 hours.
SCEtoAUX said:
Flight - Denzel Washington.
On a scale of 0-100 with 0 being "utter garbage, couldn't possibly work, a total fabrication for Hollywood" to 100 being "Utterly brilliant flying, perhaps two or three pilots in commercial aviation could pull of such a manouevre", what does the upside-down stunt score?
The crew of Alaska Airlines 261 attempted it. They perished. That accident inspired the film accident and features a similar aircraft and the same mechanical fault.On a scale of 0-100 with 0 being "utter garbage, couldn't possibly work, a total fabrication for Hollywood" to 100 being "Utterly brilliant flying, perhaps two or three pilots in commercial aviation could pull of such a manouevre", what does the upside-down stunt score?
djc206 said:
SCEtoAUX said:
Flight - Denzel Washington.
On a scale of 0-100 with 0 being "utter garbage, couldn't possibly work, a total fabrication for Hollywood" to 100 being "Utterly brilliant flying, perhaps two or three pilots in commercial aviation could pull of such a manouevre", what does the upside-down stunt score?
The crew of Alaska Airlines 261 attempted it. They perished. That accident inspired the film accident and features a similar aircraft and the same mechanical fault.On a scale of 0-100 with 0 being "utter garbage, couldn't possibly work, a total fabrication for Hollywood" to 100 being "Utterly brilliant flying, perhaps two or three pilots in commercial aviation could pull of such a manouevre", what does the upside-down stunt score?
I recently had the pleasure of best part of a couple of hours in a 737 simulator with an ex-RAF/BA pilot.
From what he said I hadn't appreciated how much flying had changed, as far as he was concerned modern flying is "follow the pink dot" a lot of the time. Was great to listen to his stories about the Falklands et all.
My only first hand experience is light aircraft without the taking off or landing!
Do modern pilots find it a challenge on a daily basis or do you find you only really use your skills on occasion, challenging weather etc?
From what he said I hadn't appreciated how much flying had changed, as far as he was concerned modern flying is "follow the pink dot" a lot of the time. Was great to listen to his stories about the Falklands et all.
My only first hand experience is light aircraft without the taking off or landing!
Do modern pilots find it a challenge on a daily basis or do you find you only really use your skills on occasion, challenging weather etc?
djc206 said:
Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah said:
I can answer that one, one of my best friends is a Captain for Jet2. No it won't, it's to stop unbearable static on the pilots comms. You know the interference noise which you used to sometimes hear through old TV's and stereos from your mobile? That's what they'd constantly be hearing. Not really a great thing for safety, not being able to clearly hear the tower.
That would explain why the pilot might switch off his phone but asking someone tens of feet away to do so for that reason is far fetched. Switch a speaker on in your house and see how close you have to get before your phone interferes with it. Many airlines allow you to send texts whilst in the air now, if they thought phones would cause interference with comms that would not be possible.A lack of any real enforcement indicates just how little concern phones actually are.
Let’s be honest it’s a combination of not wanting to test whether 400 phones can actually mess with equipment, wanting people to shut up, look up and follow the safety briefings and also not piss each other off in an enclosed space with their inane chatter.
I have written Personal Electronic Device (PED)and Transmitting Personal Electronic Device(T-PED) policies for airlines and been involved in testing to determine what happens. Simple answer. It can be a problem. Mostly on older aircraft, but there are many different and well documented cases of interference caused by phones.
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