Ask a Pilot anything....

[djc206]

IforB said:

This one has been done a myriad of times before.

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.

So why is there absolutely zero attempt at enforcement? And why are we allowed to send texts and use WiFi on aircraft now?

Edit: Serious questions btw not being facetious. In every other aspect of aviation anything deemed potentially unsafe is cracked down on. Mobile phones seem to be the exception, just a polite request to switch them off and then nothing.

Edited by djc206 on Friday 29th December 17:03

[OldGermanHeaps]

Do you have to pay for your own TR?

[Wacky Racer]

Joey Ramone said:

Do you ever think 'What was the point of starting this thread' before you effed off?

Give him chance, he may be in Australia catching up on his sleep?

On the other hand, he may have thought I'm not answering these idiotic questions.........

[BenjiS]

Is it possible to privately fund tuition, build up hours, and take exams, such that you could actually get a job flying passenger jets? Or is it only really possible through airline training schemes?

I have a relative whose been pursuing it for many years via the former route, and I’m not convinced he’s ever going to get anywhere other than burning through a huge amount of money.

[IforB]

djc206 said:

IforB said:

This one has been done a myriad of times before.

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.

So why is there absolutely zero attempt at enforcement? And why are we allowed to send texts and use WiFi on aircraft now?

Edit: Serious questions btw not being facetious. In every other aspect of aviation anything deemed potentially unsafe is cracked down on. Mobile phones seem to be the exception, just a polite request to switch them off and then nothing.

Edited by djc206 on Friday 29th December 17:03

In many airlines, these things are enforced, or at least should be.

However, it is becoming an issue because so many people ignore it, then the crew can't police it all the time.

I can assure you that when I'm flying down the back and someone near me puts the phone on and I know I'm on an airline without a T-PED policy, then I'll say something. I usually get a bit of abuse back, but that doesn't bother me.

[djc206]

IforB said:

In many airlines, these things are enforced, or at least should be.

However, it is becoming an issue because so many people ignore it, then the crew can't police it all the time.

I can assure you that when I'm flying down the back and someone near me puts the phone on and I know I'm on an airline without a T-PED policy, then I'll say something. I usually get a bit of abuse back, but that doesn't bother me.

Fair enough. Thanks for your response. It does always make me smile when they make an announcement “phones off, tray table stowed, seat upright and seatbelt on” and literally no one does anything until the crew trapse from row to row repeating the exact same line.

[sunnygym]

sunnygym said:

Have you ever seen a UFO ?

I’m not taking the piss with this question and it goes out to any airline pilots, genuinely interested.

[HTP99]

Whilst on a flight to Thailand on a 777 recently, we are cruising and then all of a sudden there is a massive engine noise like acceleration, but there is no discernible change of speed, this noise continues for a while then dies down to the hum that was there before, what might that be?

[IforB]

BenjiS said:

Is it possible to privately fund tuition, build up hours, and take exams, such that you could actually get a job flying passenger jets? Or is it only really possible through airline training schemes?

I have a relative whose been pursuing it for many years via the former route, and I’m not convinced he’s ever going to get anywhere other than burning through a huge amount of money.

Yes. However it is a more difficult route in than coming through an airline scheme.

[Dr Jekyll]

BenjiS said:

Is it possible to privately fund tuition, build up hours, and take exams, such that you could actually get a job flying passenger jets? Or is it only really possible through airline training schemes?

I have a relative whose been pursuing it for many years via the former route, and I’m not convinced he’s ever going to get anywhere other than burning through a huge amount of money.

Certainly possible, and very common in the past. I knew someone in the late 80s who did a PPL, scrimped and saved to clock up 100 hours or so, then got a bank loan for an instructor course. You could get paid for instructing on a PPL then. Once he'd managed 700 hours (instructing time counts as flying time) he was allowed to take the flight test for a commercial licence. Somewhere along the line he'd taken the exams and raised a few grand to get multi engine and instrument ratings. Then once he was over a thousand hours he got a job with a charter airline who trained him on 757s on the condition he paid for the training (£15,000 I think) if he left within a few years.
Many of their pilots had gone the same route.

[wolfracesonic]

sc0tt said:

Will the OP ever come back?

I was thinking that, how hard can it be to fly a 777 and answer a bunch of inane questions at the same time?

[valiant]

HTP99 said:

Whilst on a flight to Thailand on a 777 recently, we are cruising and then all of a sudden there is a massive engine noise like acceleration, but there is no discernible change of speed, this noise continues for a while then dies down to the hum that was there before, what might that be?

Engine on the other side has just fallen off.

[Mound Dawg]

What's actually in chemtrails?

[Last Visit]

sc0tt said:

Will the OP ever come back?

So many air hostesses, so little time. Im sure he's just a bit busy right now between flights.

[djc206]

HTP99 said:

Whilst on a flight to Thailand on a 777 recently, we are cruising and then all of a sudden there is a massive engine noise like acceleration, but there is no discernible change of speed, this noise continues for a while then dies down to the hum that was there before, what might that be?

You were climbing I should imagine

[Dr Jekyll]

SCEtoAUX said:

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.

I believe there are first officers flying with about 40 hours in the simulator plus a few landings on the real thing. OK they'd also have a few hundred hours on light aircraft and there's a training captain on board as well in case things go wrong. If you aren't worried about the unexpected and it's just one route I reckon rather less than 100 hours plus a lot of book work might be enough.

There is a company that lets the public loose on proper simulators and they will train you to be an instructor on their basic simulators (proper cockpit but no motion) with 42 hours simulator time if you have no flying experience. So presumably you can do a variety of simulated routes by then.

https://www.virtual-aerospace.com/product/737-800-...

[4x4Tyke]

What is the strangest, funniest and scariest moments you've experienced on the job?

[4x4Tyke]

Mound Dawg said:

What's actually in chemtrails?

Dihydrogen monoxide - insidious stuff.

[surveyor]

djc206 said:

HTP99 said:

Whilst on a flight to Thailand on a 777 recently, we are cruising and then all of a sudden there is a massive engine noise like acceleration, but there is no discernible change of speed, this noise continues for a while then dies down to the hum that was there before, what might that be?

You were climbing I should imagine

Wasn’t there some sort of procedure to gun the throttle occasionally in cruise to avoid a repeat of the no engine 777 landing at Heathrow? Not sure if it was a temporary thing or not...

[Gooose]

What the best game or programme a guy off the street could play that could help him land a plan if all the pilots died. Could it actually help?