Ask The Pilot

[jb747]

I have a question that was alluded to early in the thread (not that I've read every single page) and it relates to airline pilots flying for fun / pleasure. Obviously everyone is different but is it fairly typical for an airline pilot to have no interest in flying outside of work or after retirement? Does the job just get too mundane after a while or something? I might have it wrong but this is the impression I've got after talking to a handful.

Every person is different. Some fly light aircraft quite regularly. A few are involved with various warbirds, and others own aircraft. I don't do any private flying, and don't intend to do any.

 

[straitman]

Every person is different. Some fly light aircraft quite regularly. A few are involved with various warbirds, and others own aircraft. I don't do any private flying, and don't intend to do any.

I can support jb747's comments here.

Having had a Pilot Licence (military & civil) for nearly 45 years I have not flown commercially for 2.5 years and have only flown privately one in that 2.5 years.

I have many friends who still fly privately incl warbirds and many who have simply just walked away. My ATPL is still current but I don't plan to renew it next time around.

Put simply I am still very interested in aviation but I'm over the need to do the flying myself.

 

[blu]

on the subject of gear extensions - ANA Dreamliner:
BBC News - Dreamliner hit by landing gear problem

(from FT)

 

[jb747]

on the subject of gear extensions - ANA Dreamliner:
BBC News - Dreamliner hit by landing gear problem

As with most articles about aircraft in the media, this one contains almost no facts...and about the same level of research.

Firstly, the 787 is a totally 'electric' jet. I very much doubt that there is one warning light on the entire aircraft. They may well have had a computerised EICAS warning, but that's much more than a warning light. There is no such thing as 'manually engaging'....there is an alternative means of extending the landing gear, and the checklist may have called for that, but whether it was to actually extend the gear, or as a backup, we don't know. Most likely it was simply a faulty microswitch, that wasn't recording the correct 'down' signal, and the gear was almost certainly correctly deployed.

And then, pretty much as usual, they go on to relate it to the totally different 767 event of the previous week. There must be a pro forma for these articles.

 

[oz_mark]

The WSJ reports it as an 'error message', but also talks about manual lowering.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204554204577023544294281740.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

 

[jb747]

The WSJ reports it as an 'error message', but also talks about manual lowering.

ANA Investigates Glitch in Dreamliner Landing Gear - WSJ.com

I guess they just copy from each other. You CANNOT manually lower the gear. You can select the gear down via an alternative means...but that's simply one guarded switch in the coughpit (in a 767 or 380...two in a 747). You sure don't duck downstairs and crank away at a big handle.

 

[dfcatch]

I guess they just copy from each other. You CANNOT manually lower the gear. You can select the gear down via an alternative means...but that's simply one guarded switch in the coughpit (in a 767 or 380...two in a 747). You sure don't duck downstairs and crank away at a big handle.

Don't you have an intercom down to the bilge - where you can shout orders to the hamsters, such as "peddle faster....faster,faster!!!" ?

 

[harvyk]

Don't you have an intercom down to the bilge - where you can shout orders to the hamsters, such as "peddle faster....faster,faster!!!" ?

That doesn't help much when the hamsters decide to have a little sleep...

 

[dfcatch]

That doesn't help much when the hamsters decide to have a little sleep...

Well you know - I'm just picturing JB climbing down a ladder into a dark lit room with massive cogs turning, hamsters peddling away, and the crank handle attached to the boiler (or cauldron perhaps)

 

[blu]

At the other end of the spectrum, I recall the hand-cranked retractable landing gear on the Grumman Goose when I last flew on it (a long time back) with some sort of visual system to see if it was down.

 

[straitman]

At the other end of the spectrum, I recall the hand-cranked retractable landing gear on the Grumman Goose when I last flew on it (a long time back) with some sort of visual system to see if it was down.

Just as I remember pumping down the gear on a Macchi jet a few times just to prove it could be done :!:

 

[jb747]

Just as I remember pumping down the gear on a Macchi jet a few times just to prove it could be done :!:

I think you remember more about the Macchi than I do. I sat in the coughpit of one a couple of years ago, and nothing looked familiar....

 

[straitman]

I think you remember more about the Macchi than I do. I sat in the coughpit of one a couple of years ago, and nothing looked familiar....

Our Pilots Course had a reunion and we visited Pearce last year and I was amazed how small the Macchi now looks. It was big and scary as a cadet :!:

 

[jb747]

...... It was big and scary as a cadet :!:

That was the bloke in the back seat.....

 

[straitman]

That was the bloke in the back seat.....

You're right again :!: :shock:

 

[casanovawa]

Was watching an episode of Air Crash Investigators last night, the one about the DHL cargo plane into Baghdad airport being shot with a missile by insurgents and damaging the wing... Didn't see the start to see what type of plane it was but looked like a B737 or A320 and on the recreation they had a guy in the coughpit cranking some handle to lower the gears, as i think the hydraulics had been hit... I guess being precise maybe he was just cranking open the doors to let the wheels fall but the recreation made it look like he was actually lowering them...

But then maybe you can do that in those smaller types of aircraft and not in the 767/747/A380 that is being discussed here...

 

[mannej]

The aircraft was an A300

 

[jb747]

The aircraft was an A300

Crank handles certainly existed in earlier aircraft, but not on any current types that I'm aware of. The aircraft that this is specifically about, the 767, has an electric system as described earlier.

 

[harvyk]

When waiting at airports, do you guys have an employees lounge you can use? If so can you use it anytime you are flying (eg on one of your MEL-SYD just in case flights) or would you need to be doing an official flight either as part of the crew or a deadhead?

It just I rarely notice pilots \ crew at airports unless they are specifically walking towards gates...

 

[jb747]

When waiting at airports, do you guys have an employees lounge you can use? If so can you use it anytime you are flying (eg on one of your MEL-SYD just in case flights) or would you need to be doing an official flight either as part of the crew or a deadhead?

It just I rarely notice pilots \ crew at airports unless they are specifically walking towards gates...

That will vary with airports and airlines. There are domestic crew lounges in the bowels of Sydney/Brisbane/Melbourne, but they aren't places you'd want to hang around unless you really needed to be there. QF international have an area in Sydney, but it's off the airport.

If by 'just in case' you're referring to 'standby duties'...they are not done at the airport. In fact you have to be careful about doing any work as that might start the clock from CASA's point of view, and so limit what you could be called out for.