How stabile is Jet-A and Jet-A1? Can a plane be parked and 3 years later started up without draining and replacing fuel?

Did a plane hit either the pentagon or crash in shanksville?

lol

gtfo

I don’t think so, but not my area of expertise.

Thanks for the link

What is the hassle/process for a Delta pilot to deadhead on a United flight?

Is that exclusively employees, or could an employee bring along a family member on a reposition flight?

I’ll split hairs a little but here to define the lingo precisely. A deadhead is a part of a scheduled rotation. It’s just a leg where the crew is being repositioned. All rotations must begin and end at the pilot’s domicile and, more precisely, at the same airport. I’m a New York based pilot, but that includes three airports: LGA, JFK and EWR. If I start at JFK, I have to finish at JFK. I’ve had trips where we start at JFK and the last flight is into LGA, but in this case they add ground transportation back to JFK (which I’m free to decline). Crew members are paid their normal pay for a deadhead leg just as if they were working the flight.

The jumpseat privilege lets me travel on any air carrier in the cockpit. It is common practice to offer the jumpseater a seat in the cabin if it’s available (including first class). It used to be the case that most airlines would only allow as many jumpseaters as the number of physical cockpit jumpseats the plane actually had. This would be one or two, depending on the aircraft type. Even within a type, this can vary. We have 757s with one or two jumpseats. The difference comes from the fact that we have 757s acquired over the years second-hand from various other airlines. The number of jumpseats was an option exercised by the original owner of the plane.

Over the past 20 years or so, it has become common practice to allow as many jumpseaters as there are available seats in the cabin. So now, we are able to simply fly as a non-revenue passenger on any airline. For United the process is simple: just walk up to the gate and request a jumpseat. A valid company ID and passport is required. The gate agent can now use a system called CASS to verify the crew member’s bone fides. The system will actually show them the same picture as on the company ID. The agent should also check for a pilot license and valid medical, but this is often left for the Captain to verify.

Many airlines now use a website called MyIDTravel for commuting crewmembers. It’s a little clunky to use but skips the whole charade of jumpseating and just lists you as a non-rev. American uses this system and is pretty adamant about listing before showing up at the gate.

In my case, returning from CVG, I listed on an American flight straight back to DCA rather than fly my scheduled deadhead to JFK and then wait until 9:00 pm to non-rev back to DCA. Before deviating for a deadhead, I do have to let Crew Scheduling know but it’s just a formality. Part of the reason for this is so that the scheduled deadhead flight isn’t delayed waiting for me.

And the good part that I still get paid for the deadhead flight because it was on my rotation.

I was pretty sure that it’s only active employees but I just had a check airman on my flight to San Diego a couple of weeks ago who told me that he brought his sons along on a ferry flight of a 727 to the desert when those were being retired. He said they hand flew it all the way across the country and his teenage sons got some stick time. He said they did very well because he had had the opportunity on several occasions to have them join him in the simulator.

That flight was in 2002, so it might only be active employees now. I’m not sure.

If your first officer became incapacitated, would you enlist help from a jumpseater who was not certified on your aircraft type, or bring it in solo? Would it matter if he worked for another airline?

Interesting scenario. I could certainly do it solo, but having another pilot available to handle minor tasks (and the radios) as directed could be a beneficial reduction in workload.

It might depend on what point in the flight the incapacitation occurred. Halfway across the U.S.? I’d really like another pilot. During the approach phase? I probably just complete the approach and landing solo rather than take the time (delaying vectors from ATC, etc) needed to get the guy up there and brief him on what I need and expect.

“Make use of all available resources” has been a mantra taught from primary training. That would make me lean toward having the extra pair of hands and eyes to assist, time permitting. Having a pilot from the same company would be preferable since we have certain company guidelines which are the same regardless of fleet (e.g. our definition of stabilized approach criteria; knowledge of company procedures regarding checklist usage, use of ACARS, radio communications with Dispatch, etc.). But any pilot trained by a 121 airline could be an asset.

Is CASS kinda like SCMODS?

off topic

best..movie..ever

I Googled CASS and found that this acronym has several meanings but none of the ones I found with Google were the one I wanted. I added “jumpseat” to my search and found what I was looking for: Cockpit Access Security System. This system was created post-9/11 and is used to verify that a pilot is cleared for jumpseat usage.

CASS is mentioned in the Wikipedia entry for Jumpseat.

And for extra credit, here is ALPA’s Jumpseat Guide.


And for the record, it’s nowhere near as robust as SCMODS.

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Some of the airline manuals prohibit you from putting another pilot in the FO's seat. The theory is the help received wouldn't outweigh the risks of trying to lift the incapacitated pilot without hitting the controls or critical switches. Theoretically someone sitting in the jumpseat could help with radio calls but they may not have training on the avionics you are using. They would likely figure it out quickly but I imagine the time you spend showing them how could be better spent planning the upcoming approach and landing.

The scenarios presented to me did specify that the FO was unconscious in his seat. But I take your point. It would certainly factor into the decision making process, but as pilot-in-command I can do anything I want if, in my judgment, it is in the interest of the safety of flight.

Busting out 91.3 huh?



Well played, sir.

oops, I left out the all important NOT.

It’s the wild card always available if needed.

Got a link to this in a news feed.

Essentially, 787s must be powered down to clear stale data at least once every 51 days.

That doesn't sound too awful, and the pilots quoted seemed to say that it was bad, but not crisis-bad. Interested in your take.

I just heard about this yesterday. This is a new kind of problem, one we never had to deal with in the old days of strictly analog airplanes. My first introduction to it was in the CRJ n the late 90s. Every once in a while, we would get some strange status message on the EICAS and, after lengthy discussions with maintenance to try to clear the message, the last-ditch effort was to completely power down the plane and start from scratch. I had to do that at the gate with passengers on board on at least one occasion I recall. Turn it off and turn it back it. Harkens back to my early days as a programmer. Computer acting weird? First thing to try was a reboot.

One thing that I find interesting is that they’ve actually come up with a limit of days that is acceptable before needing to completely power down the plane. I wonder if this limit was just determined empirically, or did they actually find the flaw in the software that dictates this time period?

I wish I could give a more insightful comment or opinion on this, but I’m happy to say I haven’t had any such issues on the 757 or 767.

A friend just sent me this very amusing YouTube video, all about aviation acronyms.

My first reaction was that memory leaks don't happen (much) any more, with frameworks largely managing memory for programmers, so this was pretty appalling.

But, I bet that software is much more low-level, maybe even down to assembler, where they do have to manage memory. Very difficult to track down and fix.

That is a funny video, thanks for sharing.

Thought of another question: is there video in the cockpit? By that I mean, is there a camera that either streams, or can be played later, for FAA or your airline?

If not, that would be kind of a cool channel to have on flights with entertainment devices, especially during take off and landing

Search Youtube for cockpit videos. There are thousands covering every current and many past aircraft.

i like me some swiss miss