How does the roundness of the earth effect flght course?

If the plane is trim and flying "level," is it actually going slightly down to compensate for the curve of the earth? Or to ask the question another way. If you fly out at 100 feet and fly perfectly absolutely level (relative to the original 100 feet starting point, without adjustment), will you eventually leave the atmosphere? Or are there forces that will act to keep you level relative to the earth's surface?

In fact, at higher speeds (>250 kts) we restrict the turns to half standard rate for the reason you state.

Airliners are certified under FAR Part 25, Transport Category, and must be capable of an upper load factor of 2.5 G. That number actually seems a little low to me, but we never bank more than 30 degrees, which in level flight will result in a 1.15 G load factor. (i.e. you'll barely notice it).

On climbs and descents, the G loading is not a factor because we don't have the power to sustain a high G climb. And higher G in a turn just means a tighter turn and faster rate, but it won't get you from point A to B any faster. So the answer is no.

Thanks for the compliment and I've got to say that for this crew to make no PA about the go-around is just inexcusable. I feel really strongly about that and I'm amazed at the attitude of some pilots (and I've flown with a few) who give absolutely no consideration to our passengers.

Recently on my commute home from JFK, I was sitting in the back of a Comair RJ and the Captain had made his welcome aboard PA ("Welcome aboard" -- now there's a phrase I have grown really weary of. Next time you take a flight, count how many times you are "Welcomed Aboard" before pushback. My record is 8) and included the empty gesture I hear so often: "If there's anything we can do to make your flight a more pleasant experience, please don't hesitate to ask."

Well, we pushed back into the alley and then stopped. 5 minutes, 10 minutes, nothing on the PA. So I rang the flight attendant and when she came over I said, "I'm going to take the Captain up on his offer. This would be a more pleasant experience for me if I knew why we're waiting and how long the delay might be." Shortly after that he made a PA.

I can remember more than one occasion, when I was Chief Pilot at ACA, having to tell a pilot, "This is Atlantic Coast Airlines, not Atlantic Coast Flying Club. Those passengers aren't paying so that you can get flying time. They are the only reason you have a job."

i bet you're awesome in real life. p.m. me next time you're in vegas for free beer.

airliners.net is a great place to check out pics of just about any types of planes.

Tremendous thread. Outstanding work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9RbL...eature=related

^ Can you explain what's happening here? Pilot/plane touches down after looking like he's being blown off the runway, then lifts-off again.

+1

I got him covered in Boston.

Amazing thread and TY for the time you put into it.

+1 atlanta

you're delta, right? you should be all the hell over atlanta.

Hell, I'm 5'6" and I find coach seats to be a bit cramped. I don't know how six footers can stand them.

I'm 6'2" and agree completely about how awful coach seats are. The best solution that I've found to always ask for an emergency exit row seat because they have additional leg room. Unfortunately getting anything you want out of our national airline, Air Canada is like your own teeth with rusty pliers. I would rather iron the wrinkles out of my nut sack than fly with them again.

Speaking of alcohol, do pilots follow the "Eight hours from bottle to throttle" rule of thumb?

I am 6'5" and can tell you they are miserable. It also really sucks that frequent flyers get preference for exit rows and since I fly a different airline everytime I never get enough miles to get this status.

Also with regard to earlier questions about seat recline. I have no problem if someone reclines their seat, but I am way to used to someone jamming it back on my knees. When it won't go back any further as it literally hits them the person either keeps jamming or turns around and glares. This is frustrating as it is completely not my fault. I almost want to yell, "if they didn't give away all the exit rows to 5'10" business travelers we wouldn't have this problem."

Yeah I'm 6'3" and pretty much want to die on any american plane flying more than two hours.

I flew coach on Air New Zealand, KLM, Aer Lingus and Icelandair all within the last year...and they blow every american airline out of the water when it comes to sitting in coach. The difference is unreal.

In fact I'd rather fly from LA to auckland for 13.5 hours in coach on ANZ over flying 5 hours from BOS to LAX on united or equivalent. It's just that fkn bad sometimes.

And then you get the people who still manage to bump into you when you're in the aisle. Like wtf? My shoulders and knees are always getting touched by incompetent aisle walkers.

Yeah, that's pretty impressive. If I'm seeing the markings on the runway correctly, it looks like he rotated at about the 1000' point. The 757 has a great power to weight ratio and I'm sure they had this one down to minimum weight, carrying only the fuel they needed for the hop around the pattern.

A lot of these airliners will perform wonderfully when light. I once took an MD-88 from BDL to DCA with no passengers (repositioning the airplane) and did a max performance takeoff. Couldn't tell you for what the takeoff roll was, but the climb had the Vertical Speed Indicator pegged...we were doing in excess of 6000' per minute.

Yeah, they're having "fun with numbers". Delta now has a pilot group of over 10,000 and I don't think we have a pilot here who makes less than $50,000 a year (first year pay is right around there). Even at regionals, the average pay is probably above $30,000. Beginning pay there can be quite low...less than $20k in some cases.

Those guys are working hard to build time and try to get on with a major airline. For non-military, the "paying your dues" years can be tough.

Sure. It doesn't happen often, but among other things I've found hyrdraulic leaks, evidence of bird strikes, evidence of lightening strikes, damage caused by ground vehicles, tires with chord showing or a cut in the tire.

In the last two years, I think the worst I've found was a worn tire. I called maintenance and they signed it off for 5 more landings.

I've never even considered this one, but I see what you're talking about.

The force that's acting to keep us level relative to the earth's surface is Gravity. If the force of lift = the force of gravity, we remain at the same altitude above the earth's surface.

Coincidentally, I got bored last night (I don't fly again until the 25th) and decided to hop the United flight this morning from IAD to LAS. One of the greatest perks of this job is that I can hop on any airplane going anywhere in the world for free.

So, I'm typing this in the lobby of the Luxor where I'll be staying the next 2 nights and then heading home. As soon as I answer a few more of these, I'm heading to the poker room.

I used to go to Boston a lot when I flew the Shuttle. We stayed at the Park Plaza hotel downtown. Great city!

You would think, wouldn't you? But I only go there twice a year for recurrent and my next one is in March.

It looks like a screwed up approach in very strong, gusty crosswinds. but to be fair, I don't know how strong (and variable) the winds are. Constantly changing and gusty winds can be a bear to handle.

The wind is obviously coming from the right of the airplane and he's flying in at a crab angle (the plane is tracking down the centerline and the nose is pointed into the wind). This is fine. At some point prior to touchdown, the crab angle must be removed.

He is supposed to cross the runway threshold at 50' but it looks higher to me, perhaps due to some gusts at that point. When he finally points the nose down the runway (pushing some left rudder), he obviously neglected to simultaneously add more right aileron (necessary in order to maintain position over the centerline) and he immediately begins drifting left of course.

At that point, a go-around is in order. Come back and do it right the next time.

this is obviously done by design. interesting. i would have guessed that the plane would be safer if the cabin was built airtight.

I'm sure there are exceptions, but I've never flown with anyone who violated this rule.

For a while many years ago, American increased the distance between seats on their flights ("seat pitch" is the industry term), but they ultimately went back to stacking them in because it didn't get them any more market share. The flying public seems to consider only cost when booking a flight.

The Delta Shuttle had extra legroom before Delta farmed it out to Delta Connection RJ flights. When I flew the MD-88 on the shuttle, we had 9 planes dedicated to the operation (4 for BOS and 4 for DCA; one spare). The normal seat configuration for an MD-88 is 128 coach seats and 14 first class seats. On the shuttle, it was configured for 134 seats, all the same class. Putting 134 seats on a plane that had 142 seats means more legroom and the regulars on the shuttle loved it. A 6'8" guy could sit comfortably.

But that's gone now.

seems like the one thing UAL's done in the past few years has been introducing economy plus with 34-35" pitch. amazing what a few inches can do to comfort.