Ask The Pilot

[burnt]

The windows are adjacent to the first two rows of seats, not in the airstair door.

 

[jb747]

With this talk in the media about QF flying over Iraq with the media quoting an unnamed "Qantas pilot" saying they didn't want to fly there...

Of course he's unnamed...they simply made him up. I certainly don't have any qualms about it. Or, perhaps he's the 'senior pilot' they quoted after my incident, who was about a much a pilot as my right boot. Interesting to note that Emirates actually has multiple destinations in Iraq.

If the airline has filed a flight path, in this case out of DXB over Iraq to LHR, can you just ignore that, take on more fuel and ask ATC to direct you out over Egypt?

Not really. I can change the flight plan if I have a reason, but I'm not hearing any reasons... When doing it in flight, we normally contact despatch, and they then refile our plan.

 

[jb747]

Is the reason for this engineering - ie strength and integrity of the door unit? I guess long experience tells us that it doesn't matter much (or maybe we just don't know) and the return question might be 'what do you want them to see?' . But there are occasions when crew do need to see whats happening outside and I would have thought that this position would be as good as any, or better than going into the pax area and peering across those seated.

Some aircraft have a fresnel lens on the door windows, which gives them a much wider field of view than you'd otherwise expect. The crew aren't expected to look through the window from their seat, but rather to go right up to the pane. Looking through any close passenger windows simply improves the picture.

 

[Himeno]

Of course he's unnamed...

I figured as much
When I read that article in the newspaper yesterday, I thought "oh, the media is having yet another pointless bash on Qantas?"

 

[casanovawa]

You'd think by now, like the camera in the A380 tail, that they would be able to install a few cameras around the outside of the plane to give the pilots a decent view of the outside of the plane from a few angles without having to go and crane the neck to look out the windows etc...

 

[NM]

Did a sector on a DHC8-400 the other day, normally have row 1 or 2 and on this flight was seated in 1, this was a new aircraft and it had window shades (up-down) and they had a placard "To remain up at all times". All the other -8 400 series that i have flown on do not have window shades and the FA said that it was a late order ( or maybe cancelled) from the factory that had the shades already optioned. My question is why do QF order these aircraft without shades, and then after one has arrived, require the fitting of a placard, effectively saying,never to be closed?

I'll put this question to a friend who should know the answer (both tech crew and maintenance background on Q400) and report back, hopefully tomorrow.

The Dash does not have a crew viewing portal through its door, hence Row 1 needs to be available at all times.

indeed as has been noted it is so the cabin crew can view outside the forward door to ensure its safe/clear in the event of an accident. They are taught to place their nose right up to the window and check for smoke, fire, water or rotation (of the propeller blades) before opening the door if an evacuation is required.

Apparently a few examples of the Q-Link Q400 were originally manufactured for a European custom (Spain possibly) and they required a few minor cabin modifications to meet local standards in Australia, such as disabling the recline on exit row seating and installing the sign/placard noted here indicating that the window shades must remain open.

 

[jb747]

You'd think by now, like the camera in the A380 tail, that they would be able to install a few cameras around the outside of the plane to give the pilots a decent view of the outside of the plane from a few angles without having to go and crane the neck to look out the windows etc...

We were talking about cabin crew looking out the windows near a door to ensure it was safe to open in an evacuation. Multiple cameras for the pilots...probably more interesting for the views they'd offer than being helpful, though I wouldn't mind a couple looking forward at the wing tips.

The tail camera isn't the only one on the A380...but it is the only one fed to the cabin. There is a second camera under the fuselage, looking forward. Both cameras are only there to make it easier to drive it around the taxiways.

 

[Boris spatsky]

You'd think by now, like the camera in the A380 tail, that they would be able to install a few cameras around the outside of the plane to give the pilots a decent view of the outside of the plane from a few angles without having to go and crane the neck to look out the windows etc...

We can't see the wing or even the wingtips from the flightdeck in the jet i fly - it's annoying when in icing but the wipers give us a pretty good indication of what the airframe is experiencing.

 

[por930]

We can't see the wing or even the wingtips from the flightdeck in the jet i fly - it's annoying when in icing but the wipers give us a pretty good indication of what the airframe is experiencing.

Hi Boris, We know that JB drives the A380, what jet do you drive?

 

[jb747]

Hi Boris, We know that JB drives the A380, what jet do you drive?

For lots of reasons, not everybody is quite as free as me to allow themselves, or their company, to be identified. Boris is really a pilot, and what he flies is relevant to all of our discussions. Please leave it at that.

 

[Mattg]

The Dash does not have a crew viewing portal through its door, hence Row 1 needs to be available at all times.

I've been on this aircraft (is there more than one Dash 8 with window shades?) and noticed that the placard was above all windows in every row.

 

[Boris spatsky]

Hi Boris, We know that JB drives the A380, what jet do you drive?

Twin engine jet, greater than 100 seats

 

[petercr]

We can't see the wing or even the wingtips from the flightdeck in the jet i fly - it's annoying when in icing but the wipers give us a pretty good indication of what the airframe is experiencing.

Boris, I would have thought that the three major manufacturers would have included the coughpit equivalent of car door mirrors somewhere inside or is that only on the top-of-the-range model . Don't a number of military aircraft have them or something similar ( and I don't mean the guy in the back seat or YOT)?

 

[jb747]

Boris, I would have thought that the two major manufacturers would have included the coughpit equivalent of car door mirrors somewhere inside or is that only on the top-of-the-range model . Don't a number of military aircraft have them ( and I don't mean the guy in the back seat or YOT)?

Fighters generally have mirrors on the inside of the coughpit frame, but nothing else does that I know of. You want less drag...not more.

 

[petercr]

JB, yes I did mean on the inside would need a fair degree of aerodynamic slipperiness to handle being mounted outside at that sort of speed (plus would be a bugger to have to open the window to adjust while driving).

 

[jb747]

JB, yes I did mean on the inside would need a fair degree of aerodynamic slipperiness to handle being mounted outside (plus would be a bugger to have to open the window to adjust while driving).

There's a few issues with mirrors, even if you wanted them. As you've said, the mounting would have to be pretty strong. But also the coughpit is not normally at the widest part of the fuselage, so to actually have a view astern they'd need to be mounted a long way out...which rather adds to the impracticality. And if you have any Italian blood at all, you'd realise that whatever is behind you, doesn't matter anyway.

 

[harvyk]

When a flight has a stop over in a city, for example QF1 stopping in DXB between SYD and LHR or QF107 stopping in LAX between SYD and JFK, does the call sign stay the same. Eg Say for QF1, would the callsign be Qantas1 all the way through, or could the call sign be different for the two legs?

 

[jb747]

When a flight has a stop over in a city, for example QF1 stopping in DXB between SYD and LHR or QF107 stopping in LAX between SYD and JFK, does the call sign stay the same. Eg Say for QF1, would the callsign be Qantas1 all the way through, or could the call sign be different for the two legs?

It normally stays the same. Sometimes we add 'heavy' or 'super', but not in the cruise. A delayed flight may have 'delta' added to the call sign. And ATC could change your call sign, if they happen to be dealing with a couple of aircraft with very similar sounding signs (but I've never heard it done).

 

[JohnM]

There's a few issues with mirrors, even if you wanted them. As you've said, the mounting would have to be pretty strong. But also the coughpit is not normally at the widest part of the fuselage, so to actually have a view astern they'd need to be mounted a long way out...which rather adds to the impracticality. And if you have any Italian blood at all, you'd realise that whatever is behind you, doesn't matter anyway.

Could try something like this to make the A380 look sharp .

 

[Himeno]

Some FIR's are quite large... How long do you often spend in the Melbourne and Oakland Oceanic FIRs?