Jack Northrop came up with a flying wing design back in 1929 and it's been toyed with some since then. The B-2 bomber is the latest example. Here's a very an excerpt from Wikipedia's article on this subject, which addresses your question:

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_wing :
Addressing the problem of an evacuation might also present issues for a flying wing.


Runways are named for their magnetic heading. Thus, a runway oriented to the North (360 degrees magnetic) is Runway 36 (the zero is dropped off). At the opposite end of this pavement is the number 18 (South). Each piece of pavement is actually two runways, with reciprocal headings.

Runways can change too, as magnetic North shifts. What is now Runway 1/19 at Washington National (DCA) used to be Runway 18/36. It changed sometime in the late '80s, I think (not sure of the timeframe, though I remember it was 18/36 when I first started flying). [Kind of makes me feel old to realize that magnetic North has shifted enough in my flying career to necessitate this. I suppose tectonic plates have moved a little too. ]

Also, as discussed earlier itt, parallel runways will often have a letter appended: R for Right, L for Left, C for Center (IAD, CVG, PIT all are examples of this).

Additionally, some airports have so many parallel runways that they fudge on the number designation. For example, Atlanta has 5 parallel runways: 26L, 26R, 27L, 27R, and 28. All of them have a magnetic heading of 272 degrees and should technically use 27, but you can see how that might be impractical for 5 of them.

Fighter pilots are in the minority for military pilots in general...there's just fewer tactical pilot billets in the military than for airlift (C-17, C-141, C-5), strategic bombing (B-52, B-1, B-2), sub hunting (P-3, S-3), refueling (KC-135, KC-10), etc.

But we have plenty of former F-18, F-15, F-14, F-4 and F-22 pilots at work and they seem to adapt, though many of them still have that swagger. The guy who was the model for the pilot "Hollywood" in Top Gun is one of our Captains (his call sign really was "Hollywood") and he's a line check airman. So he's adapted fine.

Physical condition is required but perfect eyesight is not. My best friend is in Aviation training for the Navy and was assigned to jets (out of jets, helios, large/cargo [i think?]). He definitely doesn't have perfect vision and also has a slight astigmatism.

Absolutely amazing thread W0X0F!!! Just finished after an amazing 5 days of on and off reading. If you ever find a few extra hours in Orlando, let me add myself to the long list of people who'd love to buy you a beer.

neeeds more

Pertaining to permanent damage incurred from sinus issues in high altitiude, for my first sky dive, I dove without knowledge of having bronchitis. I was in severe pain the entire trip down and weeks later. I still think I have hearing damage in one ear resulting from that trip.

On to my question, forgive me if it's been asked.

On a very standard flight, by percentage, how many of those buttons, knobs and doohickeys do you actually use?

Ok I read the first 50% of this thread, and don't really have time right now to read the rest but will at some point. My question is this:

Is there anything I can say to a Flight Attendant that will amaze them with my knowledge of flight procedures? Like ask them if they have gone over some check of the plane or something? i want to make them think I'm a 19 year old pilot without saying it lol. Is this possible through 1 question?

The honor of the shortest runway in the world (for commercial flights anyway) might go to the nearby caribbean island of Saba? This airport certainly doesn't have a long runway. Nice video of a landing there: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVdaFv6kbkw

I am going flying tomorrow on a trip I just picked up out of open time (it's a Las Vegas trip and I'm getting pretty fond of the place), so I'll try to do a count and give you an accurate number. My guess is that it's going to be in the neighborhood of 70%, with many of them only being touched once (and many of those on the pre-flight set-up). But that's a just a WAG, so I'll get a better number.

BTW, I'm not counting the overhead panel of circuit breakers, which many people take to be some of the 'doohickeys' you are referring to. There's a few hundred of those and we only use them if necessary to handle an abnormal situation. I'll limit myself to the center console and overhead panel which contains the knobs and switches for all the main aircraft systems (electrical, pneumatic, hydraulic, etc).

(p.s. thanks for the )

If you happen to get on a plane that's a little too cold or warm, you could ask, "Do they have the APU running yet?" (...and pronounce it as the letters: A, P, U...not Ahh-pooh). That's the Auxiliary Power Unit, a small turbine engine in the tail of the plane used to provide power to the plane and also heat or air conditioning if needed. Just using the term APU might mark you as an insider.

Another phrase you could inject into the conversation would be to ask, "What is this leg blocked at?" which means what is their scheduled time from gate to gate (block out to block in as we call it). Asking this instead of "How long's the flight?" might also indicate you're one of them.

If it's raining or snowing when you board, you could say, "Boy, I'm glad I'm not doing the walk-around today."

These may not amaze anyone, but try them and let me know if they do the trick.

I can't imagine how hard those would backfire if you're trying to actually flirt with a FA. The APU thing is really good though, but for other reasons

In the rare case that all pilots on board are incapacitated I want them to ask me to fly it. Ill be like: "I dont know how to fly a damn plane what made you think that?"

Or if hse asks me right then if I fly, i will be like:

"Not now too busy in college"

IDK if this has been asked but what the hell. What would you say are the most likely departure delays? For example, delays from ground operations, mechanical, staffing, weather/ATC clearance? I would imagine mechanical and weather delays make up the majority?

This may be a stupid question, but how do you know where you are over ground when you are in the air? Of course you know your speed and heading, but is there a map or something like a navigation system in a car that shows you where you are and what direction you have to fly to?

There is this joke about a pilot wanting to land in Bratislava when he is actually approaching Vienna. I assume something like this isn't actually possible?

Just found this thread, read the whole thing ... it has been stated 100 times, but I'd be remiss if I didn't add my praise for how amazing W0X0F has made this thread ... truly exemplary

A few times early on you mentioned how surprised you were with the quality of the questions, and I can only guess that's a function of how amazing the answers have been ... you provide vivd, informative, engaging answers that are fascinating to read ... would definitely buy a book

Prior to this thread I thought this other thread was the best ever on 2+2 : Ask Me Anything About Sailing Around the World ... if I could add anything to this discussion, it'd be to read that thread ... equally fascinating and I think W0X0F would enjoy it quite a bit

With simple, concise answers you've actually made me think that flying is *harder* than it already was ... this is not a bad thing ... but with some of the terms, calculations and regulations to remember my head was spinning just reading some of the sentences ... I can't imagine recalling everything while I was actually trying to fly the plane ... which leads me to one of three questions I have

1) Although both the Captain and FO are technically qualified to fly in either seat, how much learning / teaching actually goes on for an FO who might be flying in his first revenue flight on a new plane / airliner ... things like audible "Clear Left / Right" statements ( might be bad example ) ... does the Captain ever say "You're supposed to say this ... " or "It's your job to audibly check off that"

2) This question is pretty bland at this point, but reading some of those Wiki airliner accident links was truly fascinating and I've had this question written down since early on ... aside from smoke / fire, what is the worst case scenario presented in training? I'd imagine all engines failing? From one of the wiki articles it sounded like this wasn't even brought up in some training because the pilots heard a "bong" alarm that they'd never heard before which indicated all engines failed

3) Early on you made this quote ... any particular reason ? Maybe its just an inside joke

Again thanks for the insight into your world, and if you're ever stranded at SYR, lemmeknow

The Martha's Vineyard thing is in reference to JFK Jr.

Mechanical and weather delays are responsible for the longer delays you might experience, but most of the routine (10-30 minute) delays are usually due to simple congestion, either on the ground or in the air.

The ground delays are often a result of an airport layout that was never designed for the amount of traffic now being served. La Guardia is a good example. It's been around since the pre-jet days and it's a tribute to the capability of the controllers that it handles the amount of traffic that it does. There are limited taxiways (and no additional real estate to expand) which creates unique challenges for them.

At many airports there are ramp areas which contain several gates and they usually have one path to the main taxiway. The path into the ramp, often called the alley, can be a severe bottleneck and can overwhelm even a good ground controller. I once came back from Accra, Ghana and spent 2 hours and 5 minutes after landing before blocking in at the gate, due to traffic blocking the alley. It was gridlock for much of that time.

Take a look at this small portion of JFK, showing two ramp areas:. Gates 12-22 all have to access the main taxiway Alpha via taxiway Lima Alpha. (BTW, I just became aware looking at this that there is no gate 13...I guess, just as with hotels, the airport management has caved to the superstitious.) Note that if someone is waiting to exit the ramp (i.e. holding short of A waiting for clearance from Ground Control) then no one who has just landed can get to one of those gates to park.



Aerial congestion can cause ground delays too. I used to see this frequently when flying the Shuttle out of DCA, heading to LGA. The controllers would have to find a hole for us in the traffic flow to NY. Even on days with "severe clear" weather, we would often have holds of half an hour or more waiting for that gap.

The really long delays are usually weather related and occasionally mechanical. And just because the weather is nice at your departure airport, and maybe even at your destination, you are not immune from weather delays. Again, using the DCA-LGA flight as an example, we could find ourselves in a ground stop due to thunderstorms anywhere on the arrival route. They might be sitting over Philly and effectively stopping the entire flow into NY.

I remember once sitting on the ground in Burlington, Vermont waiting out weather at Dulles, which was socked in at the time. We had to wait until the weather got above landing minimums and meanwhile some woman on board started loudly complaining that we were lying to her, "I just talked to my husband who's on his way to work down there and he says the weather is fine." I really didn't know what to tell her except that Dulles was reporting visibility below 1/8 of a mile and maybe it was a pocket of fog which was very localized. I suffered her disgusted looks and mocking retorts with an equanimity that only years of marriage can prepare a man for. Fifteen minutes later she came forward to sheepishly report that her husband had now driven 4 miles farther down Rt 28 (near Dulles) and could barely see 2 cars in front of him.

Up until about 10-12 years ago, we kept track of our position by reference to our instrument charts and ground navaids like VORs. For example, we might be on an airway called Victor 39 which flies inbound to East Texas (ETX) VOR on the 206 degree radial and outbound on the 012 degree radial (don't look these up, I'm making up the numbers). So, we would tune in ETX and set the OBS (Omni Bearing Selector) to 026 (reciprocal of 206 because we are inbound) and then fly a course to compensate for wind and keep the needle centered. Our DME (Distance Measuring Equipment) would provide a readout of distance from the VOR and thus we have a reliable fix of our position. This is how 727 drivers did it for years before the advent of the glass cockpit.

Now that method is becoming the stuff of museums and I would wager that some regional airline pilots might find it challenging to have to go back to "raw data." Modern glass cockpits have moving map displays, flight management computers and a flight director which gives visual cues to the pilot for pitch and bank. If you follow the flight director, all is good. BTW, we still have the navigation charts in our flight bag and we're required to have them readily available in case all the "magic" stuff fails (or goes Tango Uniform, as pilots are wont to say).


Not only possible, it's happened more than you (or I) could imagine. It's actually one of my recurrent nightmares...getting on the ground and realizing, "Holy Crap, this isn't Tampa!" Feels like a career ender.

If you want to see a list of wrong runway landings, see this site:

http://www.thirdamendment.com/wrongway.html

With modern equipment, there's not much excuse for this, but there are several places where nearby airports have similar runway configurations. Particularly in low visibility, a pilot could be fooled.

wow at the first one, sadly it looks like a mixup by whoever made the page though.

This happened recently at an airfield I fly into occasionally. It made for an interesting approach.

"Tower, Army 447 is 10 miles west for landing rwy 22"
"Army 447, report entering right downwind for rwy 23"
*Me and my copilot thinking that was odd, but maybe we've got our runways mixed up so we don't say anything*
"Army 447 entering right downwind for 22"
"Report right base for 23"
Discussion in cockpit:
"WTF? I thought it was 22 here?"
"It is, this tower guy is calling it wrong."
"I knew it..."
Back to tower: "Army 447 turning right base for 22"
"Army 447, you're clear to land runway TWO THREE"
*Me thinking "OK fine *******, you win, I give up"*
"Roger, clear to land 23"

Then we flew over the runway and saw a big freshly painted 23 on the end of it. Looked at my current approach plate that still said 22 and confirmed that we were not insane. Fortunately it was an airfield with only one runway so there was never any real confusion about where we were going. I'm wondering now though what would happen if somewhere like Atlanta changed their runway headings by a degree. I can't imagine that's even possible.

There are airport diagrams like Seattle-Tacoma's with warnings that say "Pilots are cautioned not to mistake taxiway T for a landing surface" (looking at the diagram, it's easy to see why). I'm sure there are other airports with similar warnings.

Do you still fly in to Islip,NY/McArthur?


Regardless, I believe one of my friends has probably talked to you before... He's an ATC and works out of Islip. He talks to you when you're done communicating with the airport tower. They handle flights all the way to Newark, I believe...(need to check on that.) But he's one of the guys that brings you up to cruise altitude, or whatever that stuff's called.


BTW, <3 the Thread... Best thread I've read in yrs. Made me feel better about flying. thx.

didnt read the entire thread... but are u allowed to fly commercial jets or become a pilot if u wear corrective lenses?

I flew on a Pinnacle Operated RJ out of DTW on Wednesday night. When we were on the de-ice pad the pilot came on and announced that he calculated we were overweight for takeoff. He said they would rev the engines to burn fuel in order to lose weight. For about 8 minutes he had the engines on what felt like full power and shook the hell out of the whole plane burning fuel.

Is this standard practice?

How is takeoff weight calculated, and is it calculated that close that some fuel will make a difference?

Is there some kind of neutral setting for jet engines that doesn't allow full forward thrust when throttled up, or are the brakes really that good? It seems like it should have just peeled off the tread skidding the plane down the taxiway.

Thanks

I'm sure that is true, but as I said it's all about the needs of the military at the time. My nephew (USAFA '08) was turned down for pilot training. Though he has never worn corrective lenses in his life, he wasn't quite 20/20. I get the sense that it can also depend somewhat on who you run into during the qualifying process. Some guys will disqualify you when you're on the fringe and others will find a way (or possibly even a waiver) to make it work.

On the flight from JFK to Las Vegas last night, I tried to come up with a better number for you. Although many items are touched once, or only during preflight or before takeoff, a rough survey indicated that about 65% of the switches, knobs or buttons are used for a routine flight.

The only thing on the overhead panel that we might fiddle with during a routine flight are: HF radio controls, cabin and cockpit temperature controls, fuel crossfeed selector and seat belt sign.

On the mode control panel (not included in the number above), which is located on the glareshield and is used to provide input to the Flight Director and the Autopilot, we are routinely adjusting the selectors for altitude, heading and airspeed.

On the center console (also not included in the number), we are mostly limited to the radio controls (selecting frequency and switching between radios, intercom and PA) and the transponder setting. There are also several test switches used during pre-flight only (testing the engine fire bells, etc).

have you ever mixed these up and said something inappropriate to the passengers, or informed the control tower that they are about to be served breakfast? Any funny stories of pilots who have?