On jetliners, are the cargo holds underneath the plane pressurized?

Also, just read on wikipedia regarding DC Cooper's skyjacking where he demanded a large amount of money and escaped the plane using the back staircase in mid flight on a 727. Do they still make the rear door on newer models of aircraft?

I don't think any currently-produced aircraft have airstairs in the back. The 717 might have had it as an option since it was basically a DC-9 variant, but I don't ever remember seeing it deployed on a 717.

In any case, the existing planes that have them all have something called a "cooper vane" installed, it's basically a physical lock that prevents the rear stairs from opening while the plane is in flight (not sure if it operates based on air pressure or airspeed, I would guess speed).

I Flew with Singapore Airlines London Heathrow to Singapore and on to Australia not long ago have to say it was the best flight I have ever had, I have had flights with other big airlines but the Stewardesses were 10/10.

There was a call for a doctor on the outbound first leg but the flight did not deviate or anything what are most calls for a doctor for that would not cause a plane to divert? Just seemed funny to me because unless I am seriously ill then I am not going to alert anyone.

Also do you ever have passengers who have panic attacks on flights and do you carry any medicine in case of this situation?

There are sophisticated protocols in place for scenarios such as what you describe:

I was on a redeye a couple of months ago and a passenger passed out in the aisle. Let me tell you, getting woken up at 35,000 feet by a thud and a loud HELP HELP HELP shout is extremely jarring and will get your adrenaline pumping super-hard.

In any case, we didn't divert, there was a doctor a couple of rows back and he was able to get the lady to come around and I guess everything was fine, but I didn't get back to sleep after that.

Yes, the entire fuselage is pressurized between two pressure bulkheads fore and aft.

I've flown two planes that have tailcone exits: the 727 and the MD-88. To my knowledge, no other modern day air transport category airplanes have a back staircase and tailcone exit.

I don't think the 717 has the rear exit.

The Cooper vane was a retrofit on the 727 and it's a pretty simple mechanical lock that moves into the "lock" position when there's enough aerodynamic pressure on the vane. I've never noticed this device on the MD-88 and don't recall ever hearing anything like this covered in ground school.

I'm guessing there's some other equivilent on the MDs to keep the rear stairs from opening during flight then

I can't think of any case where a doctor was called as a result of the ill passenger alerting someone. It's almost always a result of the passenger passing out or exhibiting symptoms of distress.

The decision to divert is not taken lightly, for obvious reasons. I've been on many flights where a doctor was called and only two flights where I actually diverted, both on transcon flights in the 757. I also had one flight in the MD-88 (New York to Miami), where we were already on the descent into Miami when the medical emergency occurred. Had we been at cruise, I would have diverted.

No, we don't carry medicine for panic attacks, and I've never had a passenger with a panic attack that rose to the level of even considering a divert. I once had a lady on my plane at JFK who, before we left the gate, became so distressed at the prospect of flying in a small prop plane (19 seat turboprop) that I offered her the opportunity to deplane. She took me up on the offer.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...qr6eWuw7FOuWIA

Will these pilots make it back to full duty?

Yes, but they might get some time off and will certainly get a trip back to the schoolhouse. This is not an insignificant mistake and the FAA could suspend the crew's licenses, though I doubt they would revoke them.

I've had nightmares about this (not recently) and the worst part of this would be the shame among my peer group. I would absolutely hate walking into the Crew room knowing that everyone else knows that I'm the guy who landed at the wrong airport.

Man, three hours for an airport 5 miles away. That would piss me off. I guess they wouldn't let the passengers off the plane whatsoever?

I wonder if the passengers get an extra segment for elite qualification

My heart skipped a beat watching this.

****in danger zone right there

That ******ant is more effective the lower it is released. Too high and it disperses in the atmosphere. Much lower than what is shown above and you'll start scraping metal against the rocks.

Bottom line: I like it. Looks like some fun flying.

it's amazing how well he times that run, he runs out exactly as he passes the peak.

Most large jets that do that work have a lead plane such as a King Air out in front doing the navigating. He may have run out of juice, or just taken his finger off the trigger.

Who cleans the plane I wonder?

is there any significant difference between "final" and "short final" other than "being even closer to the runway"? I.e. are there particular events that differentiate between one and the other?

In Kosice, Slovakia we occasionally see passenger jets (probably similar size to 737s) flying relatively low over the city and not on headings corresponding to the position, orientation of the airport runway. I was once told that this was done for training purposes, that before an airline pilot can fly with a full plane low over a city they need to have previously flown low over a city with an empty plane and Kosice has the dubious honour of being the practice ground.

Is this part of the usual training for pilots, or was the person I spoke to misinformed?

Kosice would be a good place for training has it has a 10000 ft runway and only 5 or 6 flights per day, which is a pretty rare combination for European airports.

Fun landing into a strong headwind:

No, "short final" is a subjective term and has no specific definition. When someone uses this expression, I expect to see a plane that's very close to touching down.

I have never heard of any such practice and it makes no sense to me, so I think the person you talked to was misinformed. I've never felt the desire to fly low over a city but I did used to get permission from Buffalo Tower to fly over Niagara Falls at 3000' before proceeding on course.

Long time reader of this thread although I still don't really know much about flying, I just find it pretty interesting.


Question:
A few years back I was flying into TPE (Taiwan) and couldn't see anything out of the windows of the plane, just pure fog, also I was flying on a plane where they have the underbelly video camera and could see pure fog and no land.

I've flown into TPE a few times and there are tons of mountains so I was a little bit worried given it was midday and we couldn't see anything. Eventually we dropped a bit lower under the fog and then we were able to see everything before we landed.

So I wondered is the plane equipped with high power headlights to penetrate this fog? I would still be sceptical they could see through this. If not lights, how accurate are the altimeters/any equipment to avoid mountains on the plane in terms of not crashing into a mountain? Would you be confident on landing a plane in TPE if you only had visibility during the last 10 mins of landing and prior to this was just pure fog with autopilot leading the way?

I'm not sure you know how headlights work.

I mean when landing or taking off - some airports are surrounded by populated areas. In terms of what we observe, I don't mean really low, just noticeably lower than normal landings/taking off and not obviously heading up or down.

Maybe these planes are missed landings that are going around then. They are a pretty rare sight.