The great big "ask an airline pilot" thread!

basill

Thats a tough one. I think it depends on a number of factors....

- your own expectations of the job when you started out
- the airline you fly with - route network, fleet size/type, its rules and regulations
- the people you work with
- your own personality/ability to have a laugh and enjoy the day to day stuff

For me I went into the industry knowing a few people so was fully aware that there would be little hand flying and it was more about managing the operation. I had no problem with this.

On the other hand if you were an introvert who was unable to hold a conversation, had little or no personality and your flying ability was suspect then I would say being locked in a cockpit for 12 hours might not be the best place for you.

eatmyshorts

basill wrote: »

On the other hand if you were an introvert who was unable to hold a conversation, had little or no personality and your flying ability was suspect then I would say being locked in a cockpit for 12 hours might not be the best place for you.

There's a few of them around though, like the FO I flew with on a 9 hour 2-man sector the other week.

basill

There is an easy solution to that issue. "I will take it out and you can do the radios on the way back!":)

Jack1985

eatmyshorts wrote: »

There's a few of them around though, like the FO I flew with on a 9 hour 2-man sector the other week.

Don't airlines try to avoid recruiting people like that? Not that it's illegal to not hold a conversation or have some sort of a personality but in the interests of a relaxed atmosphere in terms of conversation? God I wouldn't be able to handle 9 hours with someone like that.

keith16

Is there any real difference between P&W and RR engines?

Why would an airline choose one over the other?

smurfjed

Lots of differences, from an operational point of view no the A330 you can get RR/GE/PW, and while the RR doesn't have the best fuel mileage capabilities, it does have the takeoff thrust rated to ISA+37 degrees rather than +30, that means that they get a higher takeoff weight at higher temperatures, hence its popularity in hot countries.

Jack1985

Question for some Airbus drivers on here hopefully you'll be able to answer, was lucky enough to be in an A320 sim last week and I performend a flex (reduced thrust) takeoff with both packs to off. The conditions in the sim were fairly challenging if I remember 25kts direct crosswind on a dry runway with the temp being 4 and dew point 3. At thrust reduction altitude I went to climb thrust selected Eng 1 pack on and then after retracting the flaps on schedule set pack 2 to on all in all roughly 3 mins from after take off to both packs being on again - then I got an ECAM caution alert, "Eng 1 and Eng 2 temp bleed low" so I then switched the cross bleed value to open and the message disappeared shortly after, I asked the instructor what caused it and he knew but said it was for me to find out, done a bit of research and all I can come up with was it was caused by having both packs off on takeoff with wing and engine anti ice on during the conditions? Any other theories?

Would really appreciate any comments, cheers!

scudzilla

I know the like of Ryanair don't do a lot of night flights, but take a holiday charter airline, Thomson or Thomas Cook for example.
In the height of summer how many hours a day would a plane spend in the air?
Does a plane have a maximum of hours per day/week it can fly? I know there's a lifespan and the hours add up, making checks more frequent, just enquiring as to the daily use

smurfjed

I performend a flex (reduced thrust) takeoff with both packs to off

A follow on question to this, why would you have the packs off during a flex takeoff?

ProfessorPlum

smurfjed wrote: »

A follow on question to this, why would you have the packs off during a flex takeoff?

Better flex reduction = less engine wear.

smurfjed

Thanks, we had a hard time getting the manufacturers to quantify the economic savings associated with "deep derates", so we only turn packs off in order to increase takeoff weight, not to achieve better flex reductions.

coylemj

I remember back in the 1970s and possibly early 80s flying in an Aer Lingus 737 which was split 50/50 between cargo and passenger space, I think the cargo section was immediately behind the flight deck and the passengers in the rear half of the plane. How many of these planes were in the fleet and when did it stop? Do any major airlines fly such planes with split personalities these days?

Razor44

http://www.planespotters.net/Production_List/Boeing/737/20220,9Q-CGJ-GTRA-Airways.php

Heres a link to one of the EI combis. It left the fleet in 1994 after entering service in 1969. Interestingly its still listed as flying with an airline at 44 years of age!

Tenger

coylemj wrote: »

I remember back in the 1970s and possibly early 80s flying in an Aer Lingus 737 which was split 50/50 between cargo and passenger space, I think the cargo section was immediately behind the flight deck and the passengers in the rear half of the plane. How many of these planes were in the fleet and when did it stop? Do any major airlines fly such planes with split personalities these days?

These were the B737-248QC. QC standing for Quick Change.
Reg's were EI-ASC, EI-ASD, EI-ASE, EI-ASF All 4 joined EI in 1969.

A 5th example, EI-ASL joined the fleet in 1974. No data on when any of them left so must have been post-1985.
EDIT: Last cargo op was in 1993 by EI-ASE. The link above shows how EI constantly leased out this aircraft over the course of its 24 year career with them. In the 1970's and 1980's EI were part airline, part leasing company.

This info is from "Flight of the Iolar" so dates from 1985/86.

Suasdaguna1

coylemj wrote: »

I remember back in the 1970s and possibly early 80s flying in an Aer Lingus 737 which was split 50/50 between cargo and passenger space, I think the cargo section was immediately behind the flight deck and the passengers in the rear half of the plane. How many of these planes were in the fleet and when did it stop? Do any major airlines fly such planes with split personalities these days?

Forgive me bit I recall the EIN 732s were QCs as in quick changes? I don't recall them being used as combi's like for example KLM on their ORD runs use half pax and freight in the rear. Maybe I'm not old enough to recall same!!

coylemj

Thanks for the responses. I'm not sure about 'quick change' as the 737s I remember appeared to be permanently configured in the 50/50 mode. Take a look at the photo at the link below, you can see the large cargo door opened on the far (port) side behind the flight deck, the front half of the windows are blanked out. I can't remember cabin crew coming and going through the cargo section, I guess they must have been able to in order to supply refreshments and food to the flight deck.

Looking at the photo, I'm guessing that the cargo section came back almost to but did not include the overwing (middle) door, presumably the passenger section had to include the centre and aft doors.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/24101413@N03/11532776044/in/photostream/

de biz

The QC's did operate PCF (Passenger Cum Freight) to destinations that included Dublin-Amsterdam,Copenhagen,Milan,Paris and Zurich.
For newspaper flights from Manchester on Saturday nights they were all cargo.
The final freighter operation was on September 19th 1993 with ASE.
Hope this helps!

smurfjed

Friend sent this to me last night......

This is when I realize my job is not that bad. I take a 50 million dollar jet for 3 days to stay in a $800 USD per night senior suite at an island resort in the Seychelles.

I'm jealous :)

TheBoss11

How many hours a week do pilots work? What's the maximum hours your aloud work and how many hours on average do you work a week?

Tenger

TheBoss11 wrote: »

How many hours a week do pilots work? What's the maximum hours your aloud work and how many hours on average do you work a week?

Well Mick O'Leary says 16 hrs a week. And sure isnt he a trustworthy soul?

smurfjed

For my colleagues. 30 hours in a 7 day period, 100 per month and 900 per year. These are actual block hours, the relationship between block hours and total hours spent at work depends on the aircraft type. For example Ana A320 crew may do 4 one hour sectors with 3x 45 min turn arounds, combined with 1.5 hours report before the flight and 30 minutes afterwards. So for 4 block hours they will do 8:15 hrs at work.
Long haul aircraft won't have the same turnarounds, so they can do 16 block for 18 hours work time.

TheBoss11

smurfjed wrote: »

For my colleagues. 30 hours in a 7 day period, 100 per month and 900 per year. These are actual block hours, the relationship between block hours and total hours spent at work depends on the aircraft type. For example Ana A320 crew may do 4 one hour sectors with 3x 45 min turn arounds, combined with 1.5 hours report before the flight and 30 minutes afterwards. So for 4 block hours they will do 8:15 hrs at work.
Long haul aircraft won't have the same turnarounds, so they can do 16 block for 18 hours work time.

Thank you very much! I'm just wondering would it be okay if I could PM you a few questions related to becoming a pilot?

smurfjed

I'm willing to answer as much as i can, but I'm not the right person to ask questions about becoming a pilot as I'm not located in Ireland. Post your questions here and I'm sure that those with better local knowledge than me shall answer them.

bkehoe

It's quite common that one can work 10 - 12 hour days, 5 in a row at this time of year as summer is the busiest time of the year. That could be a long 2 sector day (e.g. Canary Islands, Cyprus, etc), or a 4 (or even 6 sector day). That is what the duty time would be, although the flight time would be less. The flight time is normally the most limiting, though one is limited to 60 duty hours in 7 days.

I think the 30hrs in 7days flight time is a FAA limit, as I'm not familiar with it here in Europe?

basill

16hrs a week, you gotta love MOL. Putting aside duty and fight time for a minute the length of time in "work mode" will depend a lot on where you live in relation to your base and what seat you sit in. But if you live locally and are say for example reporting at 6am most fo's would be up around 4.30. This enables them to get showered and ready, grab some breakfast, make lunch, drive into work and find a park, walk the 15mins or so to the terminal, clear security, grab a coffee or avail of any retail therapy opportunities and get into ops. By now it's probably around report time and the paperwork is coming out of the printer and you are making a start working through it all. Before push back most will have been awake for 2-3 hours.

keith16

Are there any countries or particular airports where you fly into where the airports are poorly run?

Maybe no gate is available or the airbridge is always broke or the stairs are never ready? That type of thing?

Same question but where things work like clock work and you can get a quick turn around time?

Tenger

keith16 wrote: »

Are there any countries or particular airports where you fly into where the airports are poorly run?....

Hello Rome Fiumicino!! (FCO)

eatmyshorts

keith16 wrote: »

Are there any countries or particular airports where you fly into where the airports are poorly run?

Maybe no gate is available or the airbridge is always broke or the stairs are never ready? That type of thing?

Welcome to Africa.

Jack1985

Hello Rome Fiumicino!! (FCO)

Ha totally agree FCO has to be the worst I've experienced, my flight the last time arrived 20 minutes early for a turn of 55 minutes (due to the early arrival it now had 1:15 to turn) and we left, 35 mins late from the gate due to handling. It was actually laughable and captain said on that flight it was the worst service he had experienced!

bkehoe

keith16 wrote: »

Same question but where things work like clock work and you can get a quick turn around time?

Germany and Eastern European countries in general.