You ever get some from that nurse Radar?

That's an amazing story and well known in aviation circles. At least one of the pilots was never able to return to flying. They both sustained major injuries.

We have a winner! Nice pull.

Scratching head. Don't get the Bach, M.A.S.H., Radar reference...

It was my understanding that the LAHSO program encompasses simultaneous landings to runways when their extended centerlines intersect but it's not specified in the clearance when you have the entire runway available. I may be wrong though. My knowledge in this area is pretty weak since I rarely go to airports where it's in use.

We've all seen the pictures of the NWA flight that was the target of the "fruit of the Boom" bomber, yet it was a Delta Aircraft.

How does that work when an airline publishes a route and that route is serviced by another Airline? Let's use the Amsterdam - Detroit NWA flight as an example.

• Does Delta subcontract their equipment/crews to NWA?
• If so is it on a per flight basis or a longer period?
• Are NWA / Delta personnel interchangeable on these types of flights?

I think in this specific case the answer is simple: Delta own Northwest Airlines.

I realize that, but it seems to be a common practice among non-affiliated airlines as well.

"fruit of the Boom"? What is this?

NWA and Delta are merging but we still each fly our own equipment with our own crews. This will be the situation until we are all under a single Operating Certificate. At that time (expected early in 2010), all personnel will be Delta employees and we can bid to any equipment on the property.

In fact, this morning at 0900 was the deadline for pilots to put in a bid on a company wide Advance Entitlement (the term Delta gives to an open bid to change planes and domiciles). This AE was in anticipation of the single Operating Certificate being approved shortly.

If enough senior guys bid for the 767 in JFK, I could find myself displaced to another domicile or other equipment. My nightmare is to be flying the DC-9 out of Detroit.

But this merger is not the typical "code share" that airlines engage in and I think that's what you're asking about. United might codeshare with Lufthansa and call their flight from IAD to DEN both United 225 and Lufthansa 1105 (I made up the numbers). This allows Lufthansa to book passengers from Berlin to Denver on connecting Lufthansa flights even though the 2nd leg is actually on a United airplane with a United crew. The financial arrangement is not something I'm familiar with, but I would guess that United gets most of the price for the IAD-DEN leg with some small "finder's fee" type of payment going to Lufthansa. Of course, it would work the same way for United selling a ticket from Chicago to Wittenburg; the 2nd leg would be on Lufthansa equipment and a Lufthansa crew.

It's what they were calling the guy that attempted to blow up the NWA flight with the bomb in his underwear the other day: The "Fruit of the Boom" bomber or the "IE-BVD" bomber.

Will we have to remove our underwear for the TSA now? Guess I'll find out tomorrow.

I'm off to Nice tomorrow and Frankfurt on Saturday. When in Germany, we stay in Wiesbaden which is the final resting place of Manfred von Richtofen, the Red Baron. His gravesite is about a 25 minute walk from the hotel and I think I'll make another visit to pay my respects.

Here's two pictures I took a couple of years ago. If you look closely at the 2nd photo, you can see he was about 2 weeks short of his 26th birthday (born May 2, 1892, died April 21, 1918).

safe flying wox!

where do you fly out of again?

I actually answered that back in post 1193 but kept with the 'subtle' motif.

(I should have capitalised 'radar' to make it more obvious).

Are you spooked at all by the recent Amsterdam-Detroit events? What is the general sentiment from other pilots?

On takeoff, do you dab the breaks to stop the wheels spinning before retraction - if not does something do it automatically or do they stop rotating of their own accord?

Has an a/c manufacturer ever fitted small motors to 'pre-spin' the wheels to save rubber on landing (or would the increased weight lead to greater costs than would be saved by later tyre replacement)?

JFK in NY.

Damn, you sure did! How did I miss the reference? I'm usually more on the ball than that.

Lots of style points for that answer qpw!

Do the contant pressure changes you endure have any affect on your hearing? My grandma flew to Paris and back several years ago and her hearing has never been the same. She went to the doctor a few times and they couldn't figure out what happened. That was just one flight -- I'm wondering if thousands of flights can have an impact.

It kind of hit me last night and I usually don't think about this stuff too much. It's becoming apparent that these d***heads aren't going to stop trying to blow up a plane and eventually even a blind squirrel finds an acorn.

I've never been a fan of TSA and all the hoops we have to jump through, but I'm starting to reconsider. Sadly, though, it seems that guys keep getting stuff through security.

I'm sitting in the JFK pilot lounge as I type this and I haven't heard one discussion about this topic, so it's not something that pilots are dwelling on.

That's a technique that I was taught in retractable GA planes but we don't do it in airline flying. Some planes automatically apply brakes momentarily as part of the gear retraction sequence. I've never even heard it mentioned in my training at Delta.

Not to my knowledge and I've never heard this discussed either. I see what you're talking about, but consider that you'd have to spin up each of the tires (the 767 has 8 main tire and 2 nosewheel tires). However it's accomplished, it would mean a lot of extra weight, complexity, mechanical upkeep, etc to avoid the loss of tread we now accept on landing.

Great, something else for me to worry about!

I wouldn't be a bit surprised and it's not just pressure changes. There's a lot of noise involved too. The 727 and 737 are terribly noisy cockpit environments due to the slipstream. I remember sitting at the engineer's panel in the 727 and it was like the Captain and FO were in a cone of silence. They would be having a conversation and if I wanted to be part of it I had to lean forward between their seats.

When I was at ACA flying the turboprops, most pilots wore David Clark headsets which are good noise attenuating headsets. Most of us also wore earplugs beneath them. A day in those planes was very fatiguing just from the noise level. We used the intercom to talk.

At Delta, they seem to disdain use of the aircraft intercom and the pilots fly with the inside ear uncovered (i.e. the Captain has his right ear uncovered; the FO has his left ear uncovered) and converse this way. The outside ear is listening to ATC. (Above 18000 most of us take off the headset and use the hand mic and speaker.)

Don't even get me started about GA planes. Flight instructing can be tough because it's a horrible classroom. You have to talk over the engine and it's just not a serene environment.

I guarantee I've lost some hearing already and it's a concern.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-fj5...eature=related

(non aviation, but relevant humorous prank call)

had a bunch of questions, but i didnt think they'd be particularly pleasant to answer from the pilot lounge haha so i figured i'd wait a few days.

in the meantime, W0X's flight is scheduled to depart in about 80 minutes, and I'm tuning into JFK tower ATC while I play a few donkamentes.

8:01Position and hold Delta 82 Heavy

8:03 wind 240 at 11
delta 82 heavy cleared takeoff 22 right

8:09 delta 82 turn left 090 climb 19000

delta 82 contact hartford center 138

see ya...was that you or your FO?

Those were all the Captain on the radio since I was the one flying this leg. I'm one of the 2 FOs on the flight. I've only been at Delta since 2000 and, though I could probably hold Captain on the MD-88, I'm staying in the right seat on the 767 for now. Better quality of life.

I recognize all the transmissions you quoted except the last one. There is no Hartford Center...you must have misunderstood him saying "Boston Center."

Just got in to Nice and somehow I got a suite with a great view of the Riviera. Time for a nap and then meet the other guys to head in to Old Town Nice for our New Year's Eve dinner.