Ask The Pilot

[jb747]

Do you (routinely) travel with spare glasses? Not suggesting you retrieve them in such a situation, but i mean more routinely (eg. you drop them on the hotel floor in DXB, do you have a spare pair so there's no flight delay)?

Once glasses appear on your medical, you're supposed to have two pairs for any flight. So, you're fine if a pair breaks in flight, but if you broke a pair whilst in the hotel, you'd need to acquire another pair before flying again.

 

[jb747]

Additionally, are you required to wear glasses if you are required to wear gym driving a car?

Not sure about glasses in the gym... I can see the hot chicks without them. I don't need them for driving. Basically they're just reading glasses, but I had them set up for a focus at about 1 metre, which is roughly the distance to the screens.

 

[por930]

Whilst it's now modelled on what happened to us, it still throws up some interesting curly problems at times.

Last time I did this, the FO was supposed to do the flying, whilst I took care of the ECAMS. When I popped the mask on, I let it snap shut, and it broke my glasses. The metal in the centre poked me in the bridge of the nose, and I couldn't see the ECAMS well enough to read them. But, I could see the AI. So, I took over and got the FO to do the other jobs. Whilst the senior check was curious about the change, he let it play out. End result was fine, but with a reversal of the tasks. Basically you just have to deal with whatever happens, and though that wasn't on the script, it was dealt with.

jb, did this incident with your glasses being broken by the mask cause a note to engineering, with follow up, that the mask needs modifying so that this does not happen again. All well and good that you can find your spare glasses, though, in the heat of battle, not a good time for finding the second set, unless you get them out prior to the flight. Do you use the look over reading glasses, or the progressive version. I could never get used to the progressives, as I was always turning my head sideways to get them at the right angle for instrument scans.
Do you wear sunnies? as flying into morning sun very glaring
With a certain retailer here offering two pairs of specs for the price of one, makes getting the second set easier.

 

[Major]

Whilst we are on this theme, is there any tint in the coughpit windows ?

 

[jb747]

jb, did this incident with your glasses being broken by the mask cause a note to engineering, with follow up, that the mask needs modifying so that this does not happen again. All well and good that you can find your spare glasses, though, in the heat of battle, not a good time for finding the second set, unless you get them out prior to the flight.

The masks are not something the engineers can modify. Glasses have always been an issue with them. It's not so much the mask itself, but the fact that they have integrated smoke goggles. The fit has to be very tight (though it's not nearly as tight as the military masks were worn), both to keep the oxygen in, and the smoke out. It's really just a case of not letting it snap shut...

Do you use the look over reading glasses, or the progressive version. I could never get used to the progressives, as I was always turning my head sideways to get them at the right angle for instrument scans.

They're just look overs.

Progressives have real issues in aircraft. I tried them for one flight. Turning your head to see is an invitation to vertigo. I'm surprised that they aren't banned.

Do you wear sunnies? as flying into morning sun very glaring

Morning sun can be shocking. The worse...landing into a rising/setting sun shortly after a rain shower has passed over the runway. The reflection takes away much of your depth perception.

I don't wear sunnies, but more because I kept losing them than anything else. Serengeti were the glasses of choice. Polarised glasses don't work at all...the screens go blank.

 

[jb747]

Whilst we are on this theme, is there any tint in the coughpit windows ?

Not like your car... but, on the inside there are transparent shades that can be pulled down/across. On the 380, you can totally cover the side windows, and partially cover the front. Sadly, the sun always seems to be in the gaps...

 

[smeacs]

"Next up we had some 'human error events'. These were quite fun. Some I've seen before, but others were new. Basically, the FO gave the wrong selections and it just had to be fixed."

Are these errors given to the FO by the training staff? ie "when you go to do x actually do y and see if the captain notices" or are they genuine errors?

 

[mjt57]

JB, Boris, etc. Article in the paper today about phones, flight mode and annoying the pilots.

Why you should put your phone on airplane mode when flying

Comments?

 

[jb747]

Are these errors given to the FO by the training staff? ie "when you go to do x actually do y and see if the captain notices" or are they genuine errors

The sim instructors can speak to either pilot without being heard by the other, so they just give instructions for what they want. Some are subtle and will have no immediate effect, and others have to be fixed immediately.

Retracting the flaps instead of the gear was educational. This is an extraordinarily dangerous thing, and the Airbus protection systems handled it beautifully.

 

[jb747]

JB, Boris, etc. Article in the paper today about phones, flight mode and annoying the pilots.

On any given flight there are innumerable people who don't put their phones into flight mode. I've never heard any noises that I can say for sure were caused by phones. The only thing I've seen that was definitely caused by any passenger electronics was caused by a child's toy. The problem has always been that phones can potentially cause issues. The likelihood is extremely low...but the outcome is an unknown. Screw up the approach aids during a low vis approach and it won't be pretty. The chances of this happening are tiny, but, a bit of a bugger if you happen to be on that aircraft on that day.

Beyond that, the phones don't work all that well, if at all, so what's the point?

 

[flychrisfly]

Hi Pilots

Do mechanical/hydraulic/electric systems complete the action requested before responding to subsequent requests? For example, if gear up was selected but the pilot changed his/her mind and selected gear down, would the gear retraction complete before being extended again or would it stop where it was in the retraction process and then extend?

What about flaps?

Cheers.

 

[flychrisfly]

JB, is your schedule up for the next little while?

I'm on QF1 SYD-DXB on 31 May and QF12 LAX-SYD on 3 July. I know you're primarily Melbourne based...

Cheers

 

[jb747]

JB, is your schedule up for the next little while?

I'm on QF1 SYD-DXB on 31 May and QF12 LAX-SYD on 3 July. I know you're primarily Melbourne based...

I'm doing the 9 tonight, but after I get back from the UK on this trip I fall into a 'blank' line, and for the next two months will just be doing ad hoc flying.

 

[jb747]

Do mechanical/hydraulic/electric systems complete the action requested before responding to subsequent requests? For example, if gear up was selected but the pilot changed his/her mind and selected gear down, would the gear retraction complete before being extended again or would it stop where it was in the retraction process and then extend?

What about flaps?

It's generally considered undesirable to reverse a selection of the gear before it finishes its sequence. Too many doors, etc, have to sequence, so a reversal does run the risk of mucking that up.

The flaps can be reversed, though again it would be best to let the sequence finish if you have the choice.

 

[Boris spatsky]

Do you wear sunnies? as flying into morning sun very glaring
With a certain retailer here offering two pairs of specs for the price of one, makes getting the second set easier.

I wear sunnies in the flightdeck - our shades are too small and really don't block much out. I carry two pairs with me (Oakleys) - polarised for the walk to the plane and my good non-polarised for flying. I can't do without them (or i get a splitting headache).

 

[Boris spatsky]

JB, Boris, etc. Article in the paper today about phones, flight mode and annoying the pilots.

Why you should put your phone on airplane mode when flying

Comments?

On the C130 we would get a very loud ringing noise through the headsets when the phone tried to search for a tower. Very annoying but pretty easy to find the culprit down the back! On my current aircraft i have not noticed it.

 

[Boris spatsky]

To what degree are the SIMS a high fidelity facscimile of the real thing?

Do you have the opportunity to watch a replay of yourself and/ or other pilots doing their SIMS (as a learning experience)

To add to JB's comments, the sim model is altered and finessed to some extent (especially early in an aircraft type's life) to make it realistic. I still find that landing is not modelled very well, but in the sim the landing is not generally the critical part of the sim anyway.

 

[por930]

I wear sunnies in the flightdeck - our shades are too small and really don't block much out. I carry two pairs with me (Oakleys) - polarised for the walk to the plane and my good non-polarised for flying. I can't do without them (or i get a splitting headache).

I guess you are not old enough yet for look overs...like some of us. I tried a polarised set of sunnies one day with some EFT screens...Every thing went black, but another time in a citation, no worries...maybe different coatings on screens.

 

[Quickstatus]

I guess you are not old enough yet for look overs...like some of us. I tried a polarised set of sunnies one day with some EFT screens...Every thing went black, but another time in a citation, no worries...maybe different coatings on screens.

Differences in the angle of polarisation. Most PSunnies let through vertically polarised light, so light from glare say body of water which is horizontally polarised is blocked. Some LCD screens are polarised at 45deg as a compromise

 

[Boris spatsky]

Differences in the angle of polarisation. Most PSunnies let through vertically polarised light, so light from glare say body of water which is horizontally polarised is blocked. Some LCD screens are polarised at 45deg as a compromise

I have tried the polarised in the plane. Screens are black at 90 degrees, but full bright if i tilt my head a long way. Clearly not ideal to use them in flight!