LOL!!! I got to say, you got me actually laughing out loud at that!

The answer is "Yes", to some extent.

But I love aviation and everything about it, and I can't explain why. I have a library full of aviation books, both novels and technical books. I've saved every aircraft manual I've ever had, so I can review the 727 electrical system whenever I want (though I have to admit, it's not something I do as often as you might think).

And I love going to work. In fact, I remember clearly one day in Cincinnati as I got on the plane (when I was the Flight Engineer) and the Captain said to me, "Steve, you're always smiling." and I told him, "Why not, I love this job and I like coming to work." He said, "You know, I love coming to work too. In fact, the only thing I like better than coming to work, is not coming to work." And I knew just what he meant -- our job affords us some nice time off and the leisure time is great. It's great to have days off during the week when golf courses are less crowded (and cheaper).

So, I'm ready for my next flight (next Wednesday) and I'll head off to work a very happy person. Not sure every bus driver can say that.

I never tire of hearing it, but I've got a friend who just dies a little bit every time someone posts a compliment.

It was a selling point in the early days of aviation and remains so today. Part of what they were selling back then was the thrill of flight and the vantage point of a bird.

People have enough anxiety about flying. Add to that the feeling of being entombed in a windowless cylinder and you can imagine how that might not be a selling point. But you're right, it would mean a cheaper to produce and probably stronger airframe.

A properly executed bank will be nearly imperceptible to a passenger, even though there is a minor increase in g force. If anyone notices, it's usually because of the roll into the bank. Once it's established, it quickly becomes unnoticeable.

I know that United, for one, does have some rearward facing seats on some of their seating configurations. But only some seats, not the entire plane. I see your point though and I don't disagree, but I don't really know anything about it. (I do feel strongly that the pilot seats really need to face forward. )

Not a danger at all, just an annoyance. As I have mentioned before, the airplane leaks anyway and this would have no adverse affect on pressurization, but it should be written up for maintenance so they can replace the door seal.

Why do you think tickets for ultra-low-cost airlines in Europe are so much cheaper than the ones in the US?

What do you think about the new airbus a380?
Long term how do you think the flying industry might change, will they keep building bigger and bigger planes?

Thanks for the great thread.

I'm looking to take lessons and obtain my private pilot's license, but I'm concerned about getting airsick. I'm unable to read in a car because it only take me a few minutes to become nauseous. Do you know of other pilots with this condition and do you think it'll prevent me from being able to fly?

OP,

Are you familiar with the Sioux City, Iowa crash in 1989 and if so could you talk about it? I watched a great documentary on that where they said how they had plugged all of the conditions into a simulator and nobody was even able to get the plane to the runway, but the pilot that day did

forgive me if this was asked about already as i'm still reading

I found the documentary that I had watched on this. Definitely worth watching if you haven't seen it. Its in multiple parts on youtube but you can get to them all from here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPu0c...eature=related

I can't really tell you the differences between a 1st, 2nd and 3rd class medical but they do get more stringent as you go up to 1st. An AME could tell you, of course. Also, FAR 61.23 covers the requirements and durations:

http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx....1.17&rgn=div8

A 3rd class medical is good for 5 years if you are under 40 years old when you get it; otherwise it is good for 2 years. (This is the one you need to be a private pilot.)

A 2nd class medical is good for 12 months for a commercial pilot (it lasts longer if you use it as a flight instructor).

A 1st class medical is good for 12 months for an Airline Transport Pilot if you were under 40 years old when it was issued; otherwise it is only good for 6 months.

To name a few: high blood pressure; eye exam (including depth perception and check for color blindness); EKG abnormalities; certain medical conditions reported by you at the time of the exam; urinalysis abnormalities.

And, depending on your AME, the exam may vary widely in scope. I had one AME, a former WWII Corsair pilot, who did the works, including checks of your balance (stand on one foot, touch your nose with your eyes closed), prostate check, turn your head and cough...the whole 9 yards. Then I had another guy, who is widely loved by pilots, who pretty much asks how you've been feeling.

Very little recourse, though for ALPA pilots, the union and its Aeromedical branch will go to the mat for you. Some things the FAA has zero tolerance for and other things might just get you 6 months with no medical until you can show a clean bill of health. Any disability depends on your company and its policies as well as any loss-of-license insurance you may have procured for yourself through ALPA.

Yeah, this was covered earlier itt. Someone also said that Mythbusters addressed this (and a link was posted about it...I'll leave it to you to find it). On Mythbusters (I was told) they used a simulator and actually got a successful autoland of the airplane, so I guess it's possible. Certainly better than their odds with the terrorists.

I don't know how you could hush something like this up, so I'm suspicious of it. I've never seen anything in the media about what you're suggesting.

Yes, I am aware of light airplane ferry flights. They happen all the time and are done by guys with huge balls. The thought of doing it unnerves me.

But for the hypothetical, I just assumed that such a modified airplane would not be available. Special extra fuel bladder tanks are usually installed in place of the rear seats in these cases (the seats are shipped).

Never heard about the .357.

VOR is a line-of-sight navaid and, at best, has a 200 mile range, but is really only starting to get reliable within about 160nm. The distance to Hawaii is nearly 3000 miles.

Thank you for answering my boring descent questions that nobody cares about

Do pilots like it when customers give kudos for a nicely greased landing, or would you roll your eyes since folks in the back have no clue about stuff like that?

You have mentioned a couple times that it gets a bit draining to have to fly a full day of flight legs in poor weather conditions, presumably because it puts you on edge more and leads to more mental fatigue. Do you ever look at the weather before you go out for a trip and say, "Oh ****, this is going to suck today"? I guess I'm wondering if you get scared (for lack of a better word) when you know you'll be flying in poor conditions. I assume you'd rather it was always clear and wind free...

Someone really should cash in on the poker coaching for flight instruction offer. If I didn't suck I'd take that up in a heartbeat, and I'd guess if it's legit, many many others would too

I assume you are referring to tones you hear in the cabin? If so, those are chimes which sound when the crew interphone is used, to alert someone to the call.

Other chimes are associated with the seatbelt sign and may be used by airlines in different ways. Delta used to ding the seatbelt or No Smoking chime (identical sounds) 4 times to alert the FAs that we were on final approach so they could ensure the plane is ready to land. That has recently been changed to 2 chimes (to be consistent with NW policy).

I'm going to say it was probably a little of both.

It could have been a result of vertigo being experienced by the pilot. The transition from instrument flying to a visual landing is a critical one and if there are conditions such as blowing snow it can be vertigo inducing when you look out front to land.

The non-flying pilot (Delta calls this the PM or Pilot Monitoring) should be watching flight parameters such as rate of descent closely and alerting the flying pilot if, for example, the VS exceeds 1000' fpm. If the approach becomes unstable (variations in airspeed and/or descent rate) a missed approach should be called by one of the pilots and another attempt made, fuel permitting.

I might just make a point of taking you up on this, if you're serious.

I've had a little fun now and then. Once when flying from NY to Florida, we were about to cross the Potomac River from Maryland into Virginia and, coincidentally, pass just about over where I live. I made a PA something like this:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are level at 35,000 feet and out the left side of the airplane you have a nice view of our Nation's capitol. In just a minute we'll be crossing the Potomac River and if you look down you can see my house. I always like to check it when flying over and make sure there's no strange car in the driveway."

A couple of people who actually listen to PAs told me as they deplaned how much they enjoyed that.

Another time, flying from Denver to Chicago, I made a PA something like "We're just a little over an hour from landing. We're 600 miles from Chicago as the crow flies. And, come to think of it, as we fly too."

Corny I know, but some people like hearing something other than the tired phrases everyone uses.

But the previous poster had an excellent point. Without the transponder on, you only get a primary return and our ATC system is pretty much set up to handle the transponder traffic. Maybe our controller friend can chime in, but I've been led to believe that primary targets are very hard to track.

Well, you're certainly brimming with confidence, but I think if you tried landing it without the auto-pilot and autoland capability (i.e. flying by hand), you would have a slim chance of avoiding a damaged aircraft at the least, and perhaps a very high fatality rate. I'm not sure the type of airliner would make much difference.

The Autoland thing has been asked and answered previously itt. That scenario may be possible.

It's happened with GA airplanes numerous times and many of the stolen planes were used by drug runners, who would discard the plane as expendable after the drug run (often landing off-airport and abandoning the plane in a field).

I've never heard of an airliner being stolen like this, but it wouldn't surprise me and could be done pretty easily by a lone pilot who is knowledgeable about that plane.

There you go...thanks for the example. Like I said, it wouldn't surprise me.

Yes, I think I had excluded military planes when I talked about this speed limit. I may have only mentioned MOAs (Military Operations Areas) but military airfields would also be included.

However, to my knowledge the military doesn't get a pass on the 250 kt speed limit in civilian airspace. Now, if a tower requests it, I can only assume they are taking responsibility themselves. It would be a stretch to say they have the authorization of the Administrator and I don't see anything in FAR 91.117 that excludes military aircraft.

Of course, I could be wrong.

Best one I heard, British Airways:

"We are now on final approach to Amsterdam where I will treat you to the smoothest... landing... ever."

3 milliseconds after the wheels touch tarmac:

"It's hard to be humble"

Made me laugh anyway, although the landing was only about an 8.5 at best.

Any rules made in the name of 9/11 that you really shake your head about?

I don't really know the particulars of this topic, but the larger airports (JFK, ORD, ATL, etc) have agreements with the various airlines about the number (and perhaps times) of their departures. I'm not really sure how they allocate these, but it seems they can be bartered among airlines. I know that in 2010 we are giving USAirways our Marine Air Terminal at LGA and in return we get their main terminal area and additional departure slots.

Pilots and controllers are not involved with this aspect of the business and we just call them when we're ready to go. The controllers aren't checking any list to see if we're authorized or scheduled to go; they simply respond to the radio call and expedite the traffic.

For light aircraft, it used to be that you could just call and get put in the queue, but it presented some sequencing problems for controllers because of the greatly slower approach speeds for a light airplane. After landing, you will be assessed a landing fee and I have no idea what that is these days. In the 80's a landing at BOS might cost $50 and they had a fee schedule based on size of the aircraft. I think today you may have to schedule your arrival ahead of time, but I haven't been in that loop for some time. (BTW, the airlines pay landing fees too, but I don't know what they are.)

In the 80s I used Dulles for free all the time in a light airplane. It might be different now with the greatly increased traffic at that airport.

The most serious things that could go wrong are midair collisions and fire/smoke. Both can be catastrophic in short order and may defy any skill the pilot brings to the table.

Over the Atlantic you proceed to your nearest divert field, which may be up to 3 hours away for the 767 on one engine (up to 3:40 for a 777). [See a previous post about ETOPS, which explains divert capabilities and criteria.]

If the gear won't extend, you're going to be making a gear up landing. With wing mounted engines, this could be a problem (not sure...we never even discuss or train for this). A very unlikely scenario however, as we have procedures for the manual extension of the gear. Post "landing" fire is the biggest danger here.

The 19 seat turboprop I used to fly (J-32) held about 3200 lbs of fuel, which is about 480 gallons. The 767 can hold around 140,000 lbs (21,000 gallons). [Actually, I'm guessing a little at the full fuel load and I should know that but I don't and I also don't have a manual handy, so it's a ballpark figure.]

In cruise, the 767 will use just under 12,000 lbs per hour, or 1800 gallons per hour (half a gallon per second). We will be doing a true airspeed of around 450 kts, give or take a little. So to get mileage, figure 450 nm/1800 gallons or about 1/4 miles per gallon. (Check my math, I just did that as I type this.) Sounds pretty low, but figure you're moving over 200 people.

[DISCLAIMER: These are all rough estimates, but they should be the right order of magnitude.]

You also asked about mileage for a light aircraft. My Grumman Yankee burned about 7 gallons/hr and had a true airspeed of about 110 kts -- about 16 mpg.

My Piper Arrow burned about 10 gallons/hour and had a true airspeed of 140 kts -- about 14 mpg. [Again, ballpark figures.]

I think some hotels do allow this, but I'm not in any hotel reward programs. I seem to remember some guys in my ACA days accumulating award points at some hotels. Then again, it may be part of the hotel's contract with the airlines that the crews are not eligible for the program (after all, the airline is presumably getting a reduced rate due to the number of rooms we use nightly -- 11 for one 767 crew).




[Last one for today. It's my last day in Vegas and I'm heading back to the poker tables. More tomorrow when I get back to Virginia.]