Yup - United. It only occurred when sitting in the center row over the wings(row 23 or 24), it was back to the "normal" experience when I moved. Smooth flight. I was too tired to move around the aircraft and see if it occurred in seats further forward or aft. It was very a subtle sensation but definitely there.

fun trip to costa rica last week. thought you'd like my "woxof prov1 heavy, with golf request takeoff fairway 1" joke...oh well ;-)

on the way back from Liberia, Costa Rica I got on the plane and noticed that the wing was sorta filthy. there was this black sort of oily looking slick on the part where the flaps extend from under the wing, paint was chipping off of the top of the wing, and honestly some of the rivets looked like they should be collecting social security instead of holding a wing together.

am i being a super nit here or does it also look to you like this wing needs some cosmetic improvements if not more?

I've seen way worse wings. I wish I had a picture of the DL MD-88 that they fly between ATL and GCM.

You've got to consider that snow in DFW is a very unusual event and they are not nearly as well equipped to deal with it as places like ORD and JFK. I would imagine that somewhere along the line someone made the benefit/cost decision that millions invested in equipment to handle an extremely rare event was not worth it. Instead, take the hit and move on.

IRROPs (irregular operations) occur when some weather event affects a large number of flights, especially at a major hub (e.g., heavy snow in ORD, severe t-storms in ATL). The duration of the event will determine how bad it gets. Airplanes divert and in some cases crews will 'time out', i.e. run our of legal duty time to complete the flight. Now it gets interesting, as we have aircraft and crews out of position and there's a scramble to untangle the knot.

We keep pilots on reserve for such occasions but, as with the decision whether or not to buy snow equipment in DFW, someone has to decide how many reserve crews are "enough." You obviously can't staff for worst-case scenarios as this would mean having dozens (if not hundreds) of idle pilots, all getting paid for sitting on reserve, during normal times. Thus, if the weather event is widespread and long enough, the time to fully recovery can stretch to days.

The large airlines have 'command centers' which try to anticipate and plan ahead for such events, and then to perform 'airline triage' during severe IRROPs. It's demanding work and they normally do a great job, but if it's bad enough it can 'snowball' (no pun intended) and become an unsolvable problem in the near term.

I did like it, but I was confused by the "prov1"..probably missing something obvious. I like the very appropriate ATIS (clever).

I wouldn't be concerned about the appearance of this wing. As you say, it's cosmetic. Planes only make money when they fly and some commercial planes out there spend only enough time on the ground for maintenance; cleaning the exterior becomes low priority.

When I was flying the J-32, we flew those planes hard and many airframes looked pretty beat (oil streaks down the cowlings, etc.) and someone in management realized the impact this had on passengers' perception of safety, so we had a company that washed them during their routine maintenance visits to Lynchburg, VA.

As for the rivets, I'm not sure I could assess one visually (unless it's missing), but we do sometimes have screws or fasteners go missing on a cowling or access panel. I can think of a few instances where a passenger has pointed out a missing screw and it's appreciated. While it's not an airworthiness consideration when one is missing, it's nice to take care of these things early before it becomes an issue. [Note: Maintenance would probably catch this at the next service check...done every 3 days.]

prov1 is your aerodynamic craft for which you are requesting clearance

I remember in the early days of the 777 there were ride quality issues with regards to some yaw oscillations which were making people airsick including flight attendants. But I thought there was a software update that fixed this.

Oh, I get it now...I was reading it as "prov-one" instead of "pro-vee-one". Good one! I probably didn't catch on because I use cheaper golf balls.

Just back from 5 day Cairo trip. Off to Berlin this Saturday.

Child Directs Flights at JFK

"A Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controller and supervisor were placed on administrative leave Wednesday after allowing a young child to direct flights at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Feb. 17.
“This lapse in judgment not only violated FAA’s own policies, but common sense standards for professional conduct," FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said in a statement. "These kinds of distractions are totally unacceptable. We have an incredible team of professionals who safely control our nation’s skies every single day. This kind of behavior does not reflect the true caliber of our workforce.”
The agency also suspended all unofficial visits to air traffic control towers pending an investigation of the incident. FAA officials will review its policy on allowing visitors into the towers.
The child communicated with at least five pilots, clearing some of the flights for takeoff, the agency said."


Thoughts?

My first reaction was to laugh. I don't necessarily think that having a child say the words "Cleared for takeoff" compromised safety in any way (when done at the direction of the controller), but it's not an amusement park ride. As the recipient of such a clearance, I'd do a double-take and wonder if there was some kid with a hand-held radio on the frequency. At the least, I would ask for clarification, probably something like, "Confirm this is Kennedy Tower clearing Delta 126 for takeoff."

I really don't know what would move someone to pull this stunt in an environment where we are all watched and recorded at all times. But, again, I'm not overly concerned about the actual safety impact in this case...just the perception.

Classic scare journalism to say that the kid was directing flights. Obviously the kid isn't directing anything, but maybe saying a few things over the radio.

Please describe when the pitch is changed on a constant speed propeller? Also, please discuss manifold pressure and how it is managed to determine power output/settings.


Thanks!

if the kid made accurate coherent transmissions and was unmistakably at the direction of the actual controller, what's the problem?

My first reaction was "I can't wait to get home and check 2p2 to see what W0X0F thinks about this." Thanks for not disappointing. We saw this on the news at work and everyone was trying to figure out why exactly it was such a big deal. Everyone kind of agreed it would be kind of cool to hear at the Class D airports we usually fly out of but probably a bad idea at JFK, although nobody could think of why exactly. That makes sense though that it could create some nervous pilots not entirely sure if they had a real clearance.

This made me think of another question though, how much damage could somebody with a handheld radio to at an airport like JFK? Like a disgruntled laid-off tower controller maybe. Do you know of any contingency plans in place in case someone tries this?

In reality, there is no issue...just a perception problem. This kind of story is wonderful grist for the 24-hour news monster. The incident itself is somewhat akin to having a novice controller on the radio, which is a standard part of their training. The supervisor is always by the trainee's side and is also "plugged in", listening in and capable of transmitting on the frequency at any time. We routinely hear this: a controller is perhaps starting to get a little behind and then another voice comes on, issuing instructions to smooth things out again.

With this kid situation, I'm sure the controller was plugged in the entire time, so there was never any danger. But the authorities obviously can't say this and they also can't endorse this kind of thing.

Once I realized what was going on, I would have been amused by it and my reaction would have been like the ones I heard on TV earlier from JetBlue pilots (congratulating the kid on a "job well done").



I've wondered the same thing. The thing is, they can't actually "take over" the frequency, so we as pilots could always ask for verification of any clearance. However, an authoritative voice on the frequency could probably cause some havoc. That's probably why it's a felony.

First I should point out that GA aircraft have either fixed pitch (e.g. training aircraft) or variable pitch, a.k.a. constant speed, props (found on higher performance airplanes).

Having a fixed pitch prop simplifies things for the pilot...one less control to worry about. The trade-off is performance. At lower speeds, such as in the climb, you want a prop with a smaller angle-of-attack, i.e. it takes a smaller bite of the airstream which is more efficient in the climb. At higher airspeeds, a bigger angle (also sometimes called a "coarse" pitch) gives best performance.




If you own a plane with a fixed pitch prop, you can decide to equip it with a climb prop or a cruise prop. Most owners will opt for the cruise prop because they want to get somewhere fast. But you might want the climb prop if your main use of the plane requires good performance at low speeds. Maybe you're a bush pilot and fly short hops in and out of small strips.

The constant speed prop, on the other hand, allows the pilot to set the prop for climb or cruise via a prop control on the center console. For takeoff, the control is set full forward, resulting in high speed or fine pitch (small bite). On the initial climb, we might set power to something like 25" manifold pressure (using the throttle) and 2500 rpm on the prop (by slightly pulling the prop control back).

Now we see the difference with the constant speed prop: it automatically varies the prop pitch to maintain the rpm we set. If we slow down, the pitch will decrease, otherwise the prop will bog down. As we speed up (for example, when we nose over into cruise flight), the prop pitch coarsens to maintain rpm.

Once established in cruise, we might pull the power and prop controls back to establish a cruise setting of 24" and 2400 rpm (or as recommended by the airplane's operating manual). The prop control is not continually adjusted during flight; we simply set it for the phase of flight we're in. Once we've set it during cruise, we probably won't touch it again until on the approach, at which time we'll again set it full forward in case of a go-around (when we want that good climb performance).

Note that a constant speed prop gives better overall performance, but there is a cost. It's a more complicated piece of equipment since the prop actually twists to achieve the variable pitch. This twisting movement is usually achieved using oil pressure in the prop hub assembly.

Piper Aircraft (prop control is the center, blue control):



Cessna Aircraft (prop control is the center, black knob):



You also asked about manifold pressure. That's the measure of power begin produced by the engine, measured in inches of mercury (just like atmospheric pressure). On simple GA planes (the ones with fixed pitch props), there is no manifold pressure gauge. RPM is sufficient for determining engine power on these planes. More power = higher RPM.

But on a plane with a constant speed prop, the prop will try to adjust its pitch to maintain RPM. In this case, RPM itself is not a reliable indication of the current power setting. These planes have a manifold pressure gauge. Moving the throttle forward will increase manifold pressure. The airplane operating manual will specify the safe settings. It might be full power for takeoff and then reduced to 25" during the climb, and back to 24" or 23" for cruise (with different settings for max range or max endurance or max speed).

One basic technique that I remember from my GA days is that when pulling back the prop control you should first reduce the manifold pressure. Pulling back the prop control first may cause a slight over-boost of the engine since the immediate coarsening of the prop pitch will cause an increase in the manifold pressure (due to the sudden increased drag on the prop).

seems like on every airline when you pass 10,000 feet there is a little chime from the cockpit and then the FA comes on and says something like "we're going to thank our one pass elite members a little extra much for taking this flight and by the way approved portable electronic devices are now acceptable for use." ---

do you have to press a little button for this chime or does it automatically make the noise when you pass 10,000 feet?

do you hear the FA announcements in your headsets?

unrelated question- seems like of the four possible runways at LGA 4/22 13/31, runway 13 is just never ever used. is it because the winds never/rarely go west or because approaches might interfere with teterboro's operations or something like that?

On the 767, we have a 3 position rotary switch on the overhead panel. The switch positions are OFF, AUTO and ON. The switch will be ON from pushback through at least 10,000 ft. Somewhere above 10,000 ft, it will be placed in either the OFF or AUTO position (most guys put it in AUTO, I think, but this isn't a big deal one way or the other); in either case, the seat belt sign goes out.

When the switch is in AUTO, the seat belt sign will automatically illuminate if:
• the landing gear is not up and locked, or
• the flap lever is not up, or
• cabin altitude is above 10,000 feet
[Note: the last item is cabin altitude, not airplane altitude. The cabin altitude will never exceed 10,000 unless pressurization is lost.]

In normal operations, the Captain will select seat belts ON as we pass through 18,000 on the descent and the non-flying pilot will make a brief PA: "Flight attendants, please prepare the cabin for landing."

Each pilot seat in the cockpit (including jumpseats) has an associated comm panel. This panel has on/off selectors and volume controls for each radio (2 each VHF and HF), both VORs, marker beacons, intercom and PA. We can select any combination of these.

The PA can be selected at any time, but we don't normally listen in because it's distracting. Captains will often briefly select the PA to ON after double chiming the FAs for landing. He does this just to hear the beginning of their landing PA so that he knows they actually heard the double ding.

The intercom, on the other hand, is often monitored continuously by pilots, though at a reduced volume (so as not to block or distract from ATC comms).

Southeasterly winds are somewhat rare at JFK, so runways 13L and 13R are used much less often than 31L and 31R (or even the 22s or 4s). Both 13L and R are used for landing, but I don't recall taking off on 13L (probably because they're using 4L for departures at the same time).

As far as interfering with other airports' operations, they've got the airspace around NY very well defined for all of the area airports (LGA, EWR, JFK, TEB) regardless of runway in use.

Is this really what airline pilots talk about when you guys are up there?

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?...ted;photovideo

This is the 60 minutes story of the Blackwater flight that crashed for no good reason other than terminally stupid pilots. The whole story is one big WTF

This 747 cargo pilot in Africa mounted a cheap video camera to the nose gear of his plane and recorded the taxi, take-off and landing. It is a fascinating reverse perspective that you've never seen before.

Youtube link

awesome vid

Pointless post but I just wanted to say that after never clicking this thread for whatever reason I finally did last week and have since spent several hours a night reading every post. Thanks so much. I have learned a ton!

I guess I do have a question. It's been touched on a little so apologies if you feel that you've already covered it sufficiently.

If I devoted my life to becoming a pilot right now how long would it take me to get a license that allows me to rent/buy a plane and use it for semi-short distance traveling? Also, how long would it take to get a bona fide job as a pilot (as you've said, most start as instructors and the like, but I'm asking about maybe a smaller regional airline)?

I know there are a ton of variables which might make this a dumb question (such as the randomness of hiring practices, etc.) but let's just assume we're talking about averages and the person in question is an average 2p2 guy (and I think I'm pretty stereotypical in that regard: 25 years old, college graduate, above-average intelligence whatever that means, and more money than most 25 year olds but definitely not rich)

as far as this part goes, my dad did the licensing stuff in about a year and i want to say that he was pretty casual about it and it could be done quicker, but not sure. definitely doable in a year though.

edit to add: this is for a 2 seater corvair plane, cost ~50k to build

It's hard for me to relate to these guys. They're aviation cowboys (maybe Blackwater attracts this kind of mercenary looking for adventure). No flight plan. Ignorance of terrain en route. These guys had only been in-country for 2 weeks and yet they had a very nonchalant attitude to the operation. Really unbelievable. I do more prep for a flight when I take a Cessna 172 to Atlantic City.

As for what pilots talk about in the cockpit...put two guys together for hours on end and just about anything can come up. This idle chatter takes place when out of "sterile cockpit", i.e. above 10,000' and is usually reserved for cruise flight, with the auto-pilot on and everything is humming along normally. I can take almost anything except religion and finance. Start a conversation with me on either of these subjects and my inputs will quickly become monosyllabic.