Ask The Pilot

[medhead]

Possibly a silly question, but what does the process of (dis)arming the doors actually do?

arms/disarms the emergency slides.

Sorry, not a pilot but I couldn't help myself.

 

[anat0l]

Possibly a silly question, but what does the process of (dis)arming the doors actually do?

The way I know it, arming the doors readies the emergency slides, so that if the doors are opened when they are armed, they are automatically deployed.

Disarming the doors disables this auto-deployment. I believe in order to deploy the slides when the doors are disarmed, you have to pull a cord (I think).


On some airlines, that's why the announcement is still the older-fashioned "Doors to automatic" or "Doors to manual". BA is particularly notable on this count.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Possibly a silly question, but what does the process of (dis)arming the doors actually do?

It does a couple of things. As already pointed out it connects the slide to the fuselage of the aircraft. This means when the door is opened, the slide is pulled out of the slide bustle (the cover) and then falls to the ground. When the slide falls a certain distance it triggers inflation. If for any reason the slide fails to inflate, then you pull the tag. On large jets, activating a level automatically attaches the slide to the frame of the aircraft. On the 737, the slide is manually attached to the aircraft by the cabin crew.

In other cases, arming the door will allow the activation of a slide built into the side of the aircraft.

The other important thing arming a door does is activate the power assist if the door has one. The power assist will provide the crew with significant power in the event of an emergency to open the door (particularly useful for aircraft such as the 767 which open upwards, and can be quite heavy if you have to lift them manually).

 

[jb747]

Possibly a silly question, but what does the process of (dis)arming the doors actually do?

When armed, if opened from the inside, the escape slides will inflate. Disarming simply safes that system. The slides never fire if the doors are opened from the outside, which is why that is also part of the normal procedures.

 

[Rolls]

There's no code mate, I just announce it every now and then.

22/9 QF2 ex SIN

4/10 QF1 ex SYD
5/10 QF1 ex SIN
7/10 QF10 ex LHR
10/10 QF2 ex SIN

22/10 QF9 ex MEL
23/10 QF9 ex SIN
25/10 QF10 ex LHR
28/10 QF2 ex SIN

7/11 QF9 ex MEL
8/11 QF9 ex SIN
11/11 QF10 ex LHR
14/11 QF10 ex SIN

And Harv, I don't do LA very often. Once, maybe twice a year.

Arrrgh! I was on the QF2 ex SIN! Thought I heard you announce but was t sure & felt a bit of a twit asking a hostile if you sees likely to be JB 747 .....

 

[simongr]

Quite a non-serious question today. I was reading a web comic - in fact this one:



A question occurred to me from this - do you have a button still to turn off the no smoking sign?

 

[simongr]

Sorry image was too small to read so I removed it.

 

[mjt57]

Quite a non-serious question today. I was reading a web comic - in fact this one:



A question occurred to me from this - do you have a button still to turn off the no smoking sign?

My wife made a video of a trip to New York, added in some music, graphics and so on.

Whilst filming their tracking over the Grand Canyon, a voice "came over the PA". Went something like this;

"This is the Captain speaking. As you can see we've turned off the 'no smoking' sign. Well, we thought that if the 'plane is smoking then you might as well, too..."

 

[MEL_Traveller]

When armed, if opened from the inside, the escape slides will inflate. Disarming simply safes that system. The slides never fire if the doors are opened from the outside, which is why that is also part of the normal procedures.

not to forget the poor old 737 which is an exception. Opening from the outside won't disarm the slide as it has to be done manually

 

[jb747]

A question occurred to me from this - do you have a button still to turn off the no smoking sign?

Yes. Off/auto/on.

 

[docjames]

Why does it remain a light and not a fixture? Why an on/off? An electrical devices sign might be more useful these days...

Does it get used for anything else (signal to cabin crew etc?)

 

[Ewing]

Why does it remain a light and not a fixture? Why an on/off? An electrical devices sign might be more useful these days...

I seem to recall flying on aircraft where it was a fixture rather than a light. Unfortunately I can't remember which - might have been the 737 BSI or 787?

Perhaps it's an option at the discretion of the operator?

 

[serfty]

... An electrical devices sign might be more useful these days...

The new AirNZ 77W's don't have "No Smoking" lights - they have "No Electronics" lights instead. (It's a graphic of reminicient of a blackberry with a Slashed Circle over it.)

 

[Awesom Andy]

SQ also features the no electronics sign on some of their 77Ws, if I remember correctly. I think it's an option for the newer 777s.

 

[LiamR]

I seem to recall flying on aircraft where it was a fixture rather than a light. Unfortunately I can't remember which - might have been the 737 BSI or 787?

Perhaps it's an option at the discretion of the operator?

VA's 777s have the No Electronic Device Sign. Their 737 BSIs, still have a no smoking sign.

 

[anat0l]

jb747, have you ever had a flight where one or more of the pilots has fallen sick or otherwise unable to continue their duties (including yourself) during the flight?

What normally happens here, since I'd assumed that the plan would be that all pilots on board would've had something to do during the flight, and "picking up the slack" would markedly change the plans and workloads.

 

[jb747]

jb747, have you ever had a flight where one or more of the pilots has fallen sick or otherwise unable to continue their duties (including yourself) during the flight?

What normally happens here, since I'd assumed that the plan would be that all pilots on board would've had something to do during the flight, and "picking up the slack" would markedly change the plans and workloads.

I've never had any issues, but had had an FO become ill. He was just replaced by the SO for the remainder of the flight. Thinking back into the dim past, when I was an SO, I replaced an ill flight engineer.

We occasionally practice flying an arrival by ourselves (in the sim). Unimportant duties are dropped, and maximum use is made of the autopilot. It should not be a big issue. Whether a flight continues to destination, or diverts, would depend upon a lot of things. How many, and what rank are remaining crew. How long to go, and what are the expected weather conditions.

 

[Must...Fly!]

The new AirNZ 77W's don't have "No Smoking" lights - they have "No Electronics" lights instead. (It's a graphic of reminicient of a blackberry with a Slashed Circle over it.)

VA's new A330s have the electronics sign as well IIRC

 

[jb747]

Ok, I think we've worked out that the smoking/electronics sign is an option....

 

[mjt57]

JB, last night I upgraded a media player (WDTV Live) to its latest firmware. One of the new features is something called "YouTube Leanback".

Aside from it losing all my favorites it now has a streamlined way of playing HD videos.

I did a search for "a380". Amongst them was one of yours, a night departure from LHR, and one of an Emirates A380 landing at Manchester.

Yours played so much crisper on the big screen (Panasonic LCD) than it does on my PC. Yours was flagged as "HD". The Manchester one as 1080p.

It's difficult to compare yours with the other one as the other is in daylight whilst yours is inside at night. But what I am asking, at what resolution did you produce that video?