The bird strike has damaged engine parts...could be intake vanes, compressor blades or turbine blades. In any case, it has disrupted the smooth airflow into the engine and probably resulted in some severe compressor stalls, accompanied by the irregular combustion of the fuel (causing the sporadically belched flames).

If the other engine is operating normally, they'll be shutting this one down in short order, before it disintegrates. Each of those flames is probably accompanied by a loud banging and some severe vibration.

No, they're both equally serious. After shutting down an engine, there will be less noticeable asymmetric thrust with the rear mounted engines, but single engine flight with wing mounted engines is not a problem either.

I don't know Jeff, but I see he's Atlanta based and I don't get to fly with many of those guys. I think a lot of people would be surprised by just how extensive the emphasis on safety is on a typical flight, through use of checklists, standard procedure and redundant checking by each pilot.

For the 787 first flight, the pilots actually did have parachutes.
There is also a special door with explosive bolts fitted for flight test. I'm not sure how long that'll be there though.

Right now, the 787 flight tests just have the test pilots but pretty soon they'll be carrying engineers too.

Flight testing will also take them all over the world. I forget where they're going for the cold weather testing. That's a bit of an issue since they'll need to be doing that during spring summer. I think they're going somewhere in the southern hemisphere.

interesting 1st post

Here is an unique world wide perspective of your industry. It is 24 hours viewed in a minute.

http://www.motionbox.com/videos/3096d1b51819efcbbe

Story:

It is a 24 hour observation of all of the large aircraft flights in the world, (recorded by the 'plane flight transponders, via Geo-stationary orbital satellites), patched together and condensed down to about a minute.

It seems like it might be physically impossible, but it's not. The hydraulics which move the gear are pretty strong and I've heard of at least one case of a plane in a hangar having its gear retracted (it was an Embraear 120, a twin engine turboprop called the Brazilia...happened at SWF in the early 90s).

But planes have protections in place to prevent a gear up incident on the ground. In most cases this is accomplished through a "weight on wheels" (WOW) sensor. Often these are microswitches in the gear itself. If the WOW sensor indicates that the plane is on the ground, certain functions are inactive, including gear retraction. On the CRJ, for example, an airplane on the ground won't deploy the ADG, which will deploy in the air if both main AC buses are unpowered (but wouldn't be a good idea on the ground).

Most airplanes also have an override, allowing the gear to be retracted even if the WOW sensor indicates the plane is on the ground. This is necessary in case the WOW sensor malfunctions (which I have seen) and the airplane "thinks" it is on the ground when it is airborne. In such a case, if we're not getting good climb performance, it might be necessary to raise the gear and bypass the WOW protection.

I take what I hear on TV documentaries with a grain of salt so I'm suspicious of whether it needed to be 11 degrees exactly. Really? Ten or twelve degrees would have been disaster? If this is actually true, it's a cinch that Sully didn't know it (who would?) and thus he was extremely lucky to find the exact pitch attitude necessary for survival. I'm not buying it. I can't speak for Sully, but I think he was looking to land the plane nose up with wings level and minimum speed for controlled flight at touchdown.

From what I know of the Airbus, however, this would be possible to do. In the Airbus, you're essentially always flying on autopilot. The pilot uses the sidestick controller to establish a bank angle and/or pitch attitude and, once this is established, the pilot can release the stick and the flight control computers will maintain the current bank and pitch angles.

[I've never flown the Airbus, so I might be a little off on this. But this is how it's been described to me by friends who fly the plane.]

I was very surprised by this, but you're absolutely right. I have never heard of parachutes on a transport category (airline type) airplane, but this article backs you up.

This was awesome. Thanks for sharing. IF you watch, you can see where the sun is shining and you can watch how different parts of the world light up during different points of the day. Incredible.

I might be missing something but, assuming you're flying the plane from the front, wouldn't it be a horrible idea to jump out of one doors like where you typically enter the plane? I would think you'd go right into the engine if it's still running. I don't quite get where they'd be jumping out of in an emergency (unless they planned on running to the back).

I seem to recall that the specially rigged door is at the back of the plane.

787 just completed initial airworthiness testing so now they can carry flight test engineers.

I think D.B. Cooper jumped out a door at the back.

this is the new cirrus VLJ cockpit. don't you think its missing a few buttons and switches?

Yes, I did...oh $%*, I wasn't supposed to mention that

you said you've owned or part-owned two piper aircraft? any reason why you prefer pipers to cessnas?

First off great thread W0X0F, I've spent many a day at work reading this. Just one question, are you able to change what airport you're based in? Say from JFK to ATL...or whatever the case may be. Does this change your seniority level? Or is this something that only corporate controls and assigns pilots to different regions? Thanks again for a great read.

Very cool. Thanks for posting.

That's what I was thinking when I first commented on this (thinking they didn't have parachutes), but the escape door is at the rear. I've never heard of anyone, other than D.C. Cooper, parachuting from an airliner.

He exited via the airstairs at the rear of the Boeing 727. After his jump the 727 was modified with the addition of an aerodynamically actuated device which came to be called the Cooper Vane. This prevented the airstairs from being opened during flight:

Looks like a two man shuttlecraft. I like the clean look, but I wonder how you start it.

It's probably because I learned to fly in a Cherokee 140. Just as with newly hatched ducks, there's some imprinting that goes on with junior birdmen and they tend to develop an affection for the kind of plane they learned in. Guys who learn in Cessnas swear by high wing aircraft. I like Cessnas too and they can't be beat for looking straight down while flying, but most other makes use a low wing design.

I was half owner of a 1969 Piper Cherokee 180-D, N7728N. I bought my half in 1977 for $7000. My partner was a veterinarian who only flew on Thursdays (his day off) if the weather was beautiful. In the year and half I owned that plane with him, I think I put about 250 hours on it and he put maybe 15 on it. It was a great deal. Here's a Cherokee 180 (not mine):



In 1984 I paid $12,000 for a 1969 2 seat Grumman-American Yankee (AA-1), N6107L, which I kept at Hyde Field in Maryland (near Andrews AFB). I owned this one all by myself. It had a max gross weight of 1500 lbs and an empty weight of around 900 lbs and carried only 22 gallons of fuel. I remember at the time that my brother was flying the C-5 out of Dover AFB and told me of taking off from Antigua with a weight of 777,000 lbs, over 500 times the max gross weight of my plane.

The Yankee was a lot of fun to fly and had very responsive controls...I used to do aileron rolls in it all the time. Here's a Yankee (again, not mine):



My last plane was a 1978 Piper Turbo Arrow. I bought 1/5 ownership and we kept this one hangared at Manassas, Virginia. The guy who talked me into buying in on this was a squadron mate of my dad in the Navy and he spent 5 years in Hanoi after being shot down in an A-6 Intruder. Here's an Arrow:

You can put in your preference to change, but that will only happen during an open bid which the company posts from time to time (no set schedule for this and we can easily go a few years between such bids). So you can find yourself stuck at a domicile for quite a while and nothing you can do about it.

Changing domiciles doesn't change your overall seniority. If you're number 5000 on the list in NY, you'll be 5000 if you transfer to Atlanta. But you may find yourself at position #200 of 500 FOs in Atlanta, where you were #50 out of 460 in NY before the move, so your relative seniority in your position can be greatly affected (and, thus, your quality of life). The junior line holder in NY would be on reserve if he switched to Atlanta.

You domicile can also be changed involuntarily, particularly if you're junior in your current position (e.g. #400 out of 400 FOs in NY). Pilots can select a preference for an involuntary transfer (and I have one, just in case), and that preference will be honored if seniority allows it.

Quoting an old post, but when I was a kid my dad was on this 15 or 20 times to test a water-filtration system that I think eventually was used on the shuttle. They use the KC-135 without the refeuling stuff. IIRC the microgravity lasted about 30 seconds, not quite the few minutes you say. I remember him saying the upside was 2G, but that could just be because that's how he simplified it at the time or I did in my head. It's pretty interesting to see because you'll see people and whatever random **** floating through the air and then BAM it slams down.

They did some hyperbaric-chamber training and were actually told how to fart. It was important because of the altitude changes. Most people puke. He threw up a pretty normal amount. There was one lady in his group that was actually based out of Houston, so presumably did this frequently, that basically sat there throwing up the whole time on every flight. The highlight for me in the videos was when some of my dad's vomit didn't make it into the bag, floated over and nailed one of his coworkers in the face.

He wasn't a professional athlete or pilot as you are, but it was pretty damn good compared to what most parents had on those school days where a parent comes in to talk about their job.

Great thread as everyone else has said. Not sure why it took me so long to open. I'm about halfway through. I didn't find answers to these on search but apologize if they've been asked and answered.

1. What is your theory on Earhart not making it to Howland Island?
2. Sort of like the standard all-time poker game, who are the pilots, alive or dead, that you'd most want to have a beer with and shoot the ****? If you could pick anyone (alive) to be your FO right now, whom would that be?
3. Do you think in 100 years flight travel will be much different than it is now?
4. In a standard 4 or 5 hour flight how much would it increase the risk of a crash or some other bad outcome if you flew solo instead of with an FO? Same but if you flew two in the cockpit but with no flight attendants?
5. Do you ever fly a completely empty plane? If so, why? Other than it being lighter, does it feel sort of eerie?
6. My father-in-law is some kind of mechanic supervisor in HNL. He has been a mechanic longer than I've been alive I think and now, if I understand him right (he is way too excited about airplanes and I have ADD so I tune out at times when he's talking about them) he is the boss for the guys on his shift and primarily works on planes that have had something break a couple times. Apparently there are FAA regulations that after something has broken a few times (?) then they have to ground the plane or it somehow gets more serious for the airline at least. Sorry for the sketchy details here. Do you think these regulations are pretty good in general? Too lax or strict? How much do you interact with the mechanics? Do you get nervous when you are on the first flight after they have hopefully fixed a problem on that plane? What about after something has broken a couple times?
7. You said you are a grammar nit. Could you do something about "fasten seatbelt while seated"? I know what they are trying to say, but I don't need to be told to wait until I'm sitting down before buckling up.