It's certainly not a performance consideration...airplanes love cold (dense) air. But Jet A fuel has a freezing point around -40°C, so anything approaching that temperature is problematic. I don't know that I'd be comfortable at -39°.

Thanks for the information. Is Faroese similar to Danish?

Nope...off this week (until Saturday). Why? Did something bad happen over there?

It sounds like you were congested for that Vegas flight and that's a good reason to skip flying altogether.

Unfortunately, I have no tips for you other than the standard ones: yawn and/or chew gum. Both of these actions will help open the eustachian tubes to equalize pressure in the ears.

Maybe it's because I've gone through so many pressurization cycles at this point, but I don't even notice it anymore and I can't remember the last time I consciously thought of it on a flight.

Yeah, I've heard that this theory is out there. Pretty amazing what some people are willing to believe. I'm at the other end of the spectrum: I tend to be skeptical of almost everything I hear. I get upset with myself when I get taken in by one of the those "too good to be true" stories circulating on the internet. My first stop is always snopes.com to check it out.

Another great site for skeptics: randi.org

I used to have the ear pop problem a lot, but the last several times I've flown I've been using Mack's Earplugs during ascent and descent and I haven't had any problems. They are silicone based, you just ball them up like play-doh and put them in your ears. You can get them at most drugstores, Walmart, etc.

Next best thing is chewing gum if you don't like having stuff stuck in your ears, but gum is not perfect.

Pretty funny short Video

http://www.aircraftowner.com//videos...hing_1490.html

There are a few similarities between the two, but not more so than between Danish and German or Danish and English, meaning a Dane could read a Faroese text and recognize some words here and there, but wouldn't be able to deduct anything meaningful from the text. A Dane wouldn't be able to understand spoken Faroese at all. This is based on my(I'm Danish) pretty limited exposure to Faroese, which is me meeting and talking to a handful of people from Faroe Islands. They all spoke good Danish though which, I guess, they learned as a second language in school.

On topic:

I can't remember if this has been asked before, but which carrier is regarded as the best for trans-atlantic travel(somewhere on the east coast of the US to somewhere in Western Europe) based on service, comfort, reliability etc? Maybe it's easier to ask which carriers are the absolute worst?

Delta 767 Captain fron NJ pulled off flight for being under the influence just before a AMS- EWR flight yesterday

How'd you get that info, is it public?

It's in the news. I saw it on CNN.com, for instance. Had to search for it, because the 'hope you're not in Amsterdam' made me think there was something 'bigger' that happened.

Link here:http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/09/14/...iref=allsearch

I have a friend who lives in Connecticut (we're both English - I still live in England) and he really only likes to fly BA (mainly because he says he already feels like he's home as soon as he steps aboard that plane in JFK or Boston). Personally, I've flown Amsterdam-Detroit with KLM and thought they were fabulous. I suppose airlines are like beer. Some you like, some you don't like - it's all subjective.

Is Jet A the standard fuel for your airplanes? Would you ever use Jet A+ for reasons such as cold weather? Meaning at an airport where both are available but somebody chooses A+ over A?

Isn't the air temp around 40 below over 30,000 ft?

From an aerodynamics perspective, there's nothing that would prohibit a helicopter from hovering/flying inverted if you design the rotor with that intent in mind. One issue is that helicopter rotor airfoils are designed to be efficient at high lift coefficients (CL), not negative CLs. So a helicopter airfoil has higher drag for a negative CL than for the equivalent positive CL. Another issue is that the blade is twisted. And like you mentioned, the collective range usually does not extend too deep into negative AoAs, so even if you have enough power to lift your a/c while inverted, you might hit the stop before you hit that thrust.

I'm probably not the guy to ask, being somewhat biased. And I really don't know much about the quality of the service on other carriers. Check out www.flyertalk.com — it's a forum of frequent flyers and I'm sure you'll find plenty of informed opinions there.

Yes it is, but the fuel temperature is above that. In fact, our dispatch release usually has a note in it (especially for long flights) which gives the predicted low fuel temperature expected for the flight and the point in the flight at which this is expected to occur. For example, here's the remark for tonight's flight to Zurich:

MINIMUM PREDICTED FUEL TEMPERATURE -23.3C AT ETE 0640

And, as you point out, the outside air temperature during cruise flight will be below -40°. One of the reasons the fuel stays "warm" is because there's a fuel/oil heat exchanger. This heats the fuel and cools the oil...a nice symbiotic setup.

My aircraft has one of those fuel heater coils also. Propane is around -50F, boils at -44F but doesn't get efficient unless we heat the hell out of it.

[IMG] Uploaded with ImageShack.us[/IMG]

So could a fuel/oil heat exchanger problem been the cause of the problem that the BA 777 had losing power in both engines right before landing at Heathrow a few years back?

BTW...the Amsterdam post was about the pilot that was arrested in the cockpit for being over the legal alcohol limit.

Jet A is standard and I've never even heard of Jet A+. Is that just Jet A with some type of additive like Prist? It might be that it's just considered a form of Jet A and we can use it...I really don't know. Our Ops Manual prohibits the use of Jet B or JP4 fuels.

In Russia they use Jet A 1 type. I believe Delta uses a different fueling form in stations outside the USA which lets the fueler specify the fuel type (Jet A or Jet A1). In the US the form simply indicates Jet A.

Jet A is only available in the US while Jet A-1 is the worldwide standard. Jet A has a freezing point of -40C while Jet A-1 freezes at -47C.

Please help me with a debate I have going with a few friends...

I took this picture of Philadelphia a few days ago:



It was on a CO flight from SJO to EWR and we passed just west of Philly. Just judging from what the city looks like, what you know about the distance from Philly to EWR, what you know about how landing sequences tend to progress, etc, what is your best guess of our altitude given that Philly is roughly at sea level?

Would be much appreciated, thanks

It's hard to be accurate to better than +/-3000' or so (you'd think my eyes would be better calibrated by now), but it looks like less than 12,000' and from what I know of the arrivals into EWR, I'd say you're in the 8000-10000' range.

Thanks