Ask me about being an airline pilot or flying in general

Not a good week to be a private plane pilot in FL. A small plane crashed into a trailer park in Clearwater killing pilot and two people in the trailer. Then this afternoon a plane tried landing on I75 in Naples killing 2 of 5 on board.

My admin assistant is going to airplane mechanic school in the evenings.

He makes a lot of simple repetitive errors.

I'll let everyone know what airline hires him so we can all avoid flying it 😀

All airplanes are required under a federal aviation regulation to have an annual inspection, and planes that are "for hire" that carry passengers also have a 100 hour inspection.

Lol everything he does on an aircraft needs to be signed off on by the head A&P mechanic. He's the guy that checks everyone's work before the plane can be put back on the line, so rest assured!

W0X0F, what’s your take on the United Airlines SF to Boston flight having to land in Denver because part of what appears to be a slat in the process of disintegrating?

Is this sort of damage serious? How often do these sorts of events occur?

I'm listening to a podcast of some local sports talk radio guys who sometimes go on road trips with the local teams. They're saying that the charter flights will take off/land in much worse conditions than regular flights and/or fly through bad weather that a regular commercial flight would detour around. Is this true? Are there conditions a charter will go through that a normal commercial flight wouldn't just because of comfort?

mark, I'll let you in on a secret: the airlines don't like the Cowboys as much as you do.

apparently mother nature doesn't either

Thanks, that's what I figured.

Note to haterz: it was the Stars' charter flight

What made you want to be a pilot as a boy when if you wreck, you're dead? Any big emergencies in your career?

Part of it might have been that my father was a Naval Aviator (USNA ‘50), but he never talked about flying at home when I was a kid..perhaps some kind of understanding with my mother. For some reason, I was just taken with the idea of flight.

I might have never acted on it, but things just came together when I graduated college. I got motivated to graduate early after realizing that not everyone had a free ride courtesy of their parents. Many of my friends worked while attending college. I felt a little guilty and, even though I had a partial scholarship (National Merit), I decided to save my dad a semester of cost. Duke tuition was $4000/year at the time...a princely sum.

So I was at home after Christmas and looking for a job. One of our neighbors, Jim Cheboneaux, was at “cocktail hour” at my parents’ house (a time honored tradition of the time) and he talked up flying with me.

Jim had flown 100 missions in the P-51 in Korea and then went to work for the CIA, flying the U-2 in the late ‘50s. (He was the backup pilot for Gary Powers for the flight that was shot down by the Russians.) He had just used the GI Bill to get his flight instructor certificate and offered to teach me for free. What a great deal! I put the job search on hold, rationalizing that my early graduation was the perfect excuse to pursue my dream.

But after one lesson, Jim accepted a job with NASA at Moffett Field (San Jose) as head of their High Altitude Missions branch (civilian U-2 operations). At this point I was hooked. Jim recommended another CFI and I got my PPL 4 months later (June 77).

As to your second question, I think I declared an emergency twice in my airline career, not counting three medical emergency diverts (all in the same year). One was for a cargo fire warning while on approach at IAD which turned out to be a false alarm. The other was a main power bus failure on the MD-88 flying into LGA on a VMC day. Neither instance amounted to much.

In GA flying, I’ve had two engine failures in single-engine 4-seaters. The full stories on those are in this thread. Briefly, the first was a partial engine failure in a Grumman Tiger (one cylinder had swallowed a valve). I couldn’t maintain altitude and declared an emergency, landing at Phillips AAF, Aberdeen Proving Grounds.

The second was a complete engine failure in a Mooney Executive. I was at 7000’ IFR in clouds and extremely heavy rain at the time. That was by far the most serious single episode in my flying experience. By the grace of Crom, I lived to tell about it.

Crom? What about FSM? 😉

I was on a flight once with a medical. Early AM flight from Costa Rica back to Denver (diverted through Houston, but not for this--we were told they didn't have enough fuel at the CR airport). Anyway, on the second leg, heard a loud thump near the front of the cabin, and some commotion.

Turned out the person passed out waiting for the bathroom. Said she hadn't eaten prior to the flight. Fortunately, had some people onboard with medical knowledge. They checked it out, said ok not to divert. Cleared a row so she could lay down, got her something to eat/drink. Upon landing, the EMTs came and got her off on a stretcher.

Only time I've experienced something on a flight, but occasionally I think about how bad it would be if happened while over the ocean/some remote area/whatever.

I'm sure it would be fine. You guys and your cohorts are pros, and would work the problem.

W0X0F - did I Dream of Jeannie have any influence on your career?

If I had given it more thought I certainly would have invoked FSM and his noodly appendages. I have an FSM shirt I often wear while playing poker.

Parmesan be upon him.

R’amen.

Not that I’m aware of. A little perplexed by the question. Do you ask because astronauts were in it, or am I missing something?

yeah, because astronauts...who mostly seemed to be pilots until a higher calling

Any thoughts on Amelia Earhart? A personal fave of mine, first entry in a book of heroines I did.

1. Any thoughts on this DEI crap and potential diversity hires? I don't know much about it, just saw clips on YT about it.
2. Why are so many commercial pilots still confusing Starlink satellites with UFOs or something else?
3. Is there a problem in the industry where pilots are unlikely to mention/treat mental health issues because they fear losing their license?
4. Do you ever watch the YouTube channels like Pilot Debrief? I like that dude.

did I read this correctly

whether used or not, all pillows are disposed of after each and every flight

They are probably washed.

Surprised they allowed movement through 2-3 feet of water...

Can't remember if this has been talked about. How far from the airport to flights "turn around" to go the direction they really want to?

Details: You've mentioned that planes always take off into the wind. I live about 18 mi WNW of DEN; when I see flights go over the neighborhood, they continue in a more-or-less westerly direction until they're out of sight.

So, I'm assuming the eastbound flights have taken off to the west, and have already arced around (or these flights took off east, and turned, depending on that day's wind). Wondering where that "turn point" is.

I recall the few times I flew LAX-BOS, as we taxied out, I could see a sign saying something like * No turning before the coast* or something like that. Probably noise mitigation for coastal communities.

OTOH, taking off from BOS or PVD, I notice we would begin the turn very soon after getting airborne.

Probably varies by location.

More than once I've taken off out of Las Vegas heading southwest on 19L or 19R and instead of turning the ~140 degrees left to head back ENE we went the ~220 degrees to the right. Why the longer turn?

Maybe they are washed, I don't know. But they're cheap little excuses for a pillow and seem like they're disposable to me.

The ones in First Class or Business Class are actually decent and come to the plane in plastic wrap. I could believe those are cleaned somehow and recycled. But this is way out of my area of knowledge.