A while back, we began soliciting reader questions for Captain Steve, a captain with a major U.S. airline. He answered his first batch of questions here, and now is back with his second round. Please leave new questions for Captain Steve in the comments section below.
Is there any way to obtain information on my commercial airline pilot before I fly — like how long he’s been flying, education, what he/she is or isn’t trained to do? — Tracy Moore
Tracy, yes there is a way, but not how you would think. The best and only way is to walk up to the pilot either before you board, or ask to go to the cockpit while the plane is on the ground. Tell the flight attendants that you are a curious flier and need to be reassured by the captain and crew.
Don’t be afraid to ask them! Think about it. Don’t we all love to talk about ourselves? Ask the pilot what he did to get to this level of his career and where he went to school; ask whether he flew military or civilian and what other flying he did or does outside of the airlines; ask where he lives and how he gets to work.
If you do this often, I think that you will be amazed at the vast amount of experience, education, and training each and every pilot has accumulated!
Why don’t more pilots turn on Air Traffic Control on one of the internal radio stations? It seems United flights do this more than most. I’m not a pilot, but I like hearing what is going on. It’s calming to know why things are happening — instead of the more common sitting there with no idea why we haven’t moved on the tarmac in 15 minutes. — Rob
Rob, United is the only U.S. domestic carrier that does this. None of the other carriers’ aircraft are equipped to enable pilots to allow you to hear what is being said. Personally, I would love it. I commute from my home to my crew base. Being able to hear the transmissions during that time would be insightful. This goes for you as well.
What is the general condition of our fleet of planes today? — Charles
I will attest that for the most part, our aircraft are in pretty good shape. This is a testament to the great design of these very complicated machines. With that said, there needs to be a large upgrade of aircraft in the next 10 years or so, especially with the U.S. carriers. Much pending legislation is going to require all companies to improve their “carbon footprint.” To do this, we will need new aircraft with new wing designs powered by new engine designs.
I’m an American student who has been in Europe for the past nine months, and I was wondering if you know how, exactly, airlines such as Ryanair and EasyJet actually make money? I mean, I’m not complaining at all — hopping around Europe this year has been less damaging to my wallet for sure. But those two particular airlines at least seem to be doing very well despite the insanely low ticket prices. — Alex
Very complicated answer needed. Most of these “low cost” carriers have exactly that — low cost due to various reasons (bankruptcies, no legacy costs like pensions, etc.). Some are very well-run, no-frills, basic transportation. Some use only outlying airports. These airports usually have lower fees, etc. Combine all of this and you can have different types of companies competing with one another. Try to fly to Hong Kong on Ryanair: you can’t. Try to go to some of the destinations Ryanair goes to on British Airways: very hard. Sorry, Alex, I said this is hard to quantify, but I hope that you get some idea of an answer to your question.
I fly from Chicago to Hong Kong and back quite frequently. On my last flight, we sat at the gate in Hong Kong for about 20 minutes due to a passing thunderstorm. Then the pilot came on and said we needed to add fuel because we burned fuel sitting on the runway. How close to the minimum fuel needed do they load on the plane? Twenty minutes of extra fuel seemed a little close for a 14-hour flight. — JPC
Whew, you guys are throwing tough ones. My guess is this: the 20-minute delay may not be the whole story.
1. Storms can cause rerouting, which requires more fuel. Legally, we need to have enough fuel to fly to the destination, to fly on to our alternate airport, and to land with a certain amount of fuel reserves left in the fuel tanks (to be used in case of landing delay/emergency). These amounts of fuel vary greatly, and we can adjust them during the flight as conditions change at our destination.
2. Another wrinkle is over the course of 14 hours, we may have to circumnavigate a large deviation. Doing this can make us burn the fuel that was intended to be used as holding fuel for delays. If we use all of the holding fuel and there are large delays, we will not be able to stay in a holding pattern as long as we had originally planned.
These fuel changes happen to me all the time. We simply adjust to a new plan that is safe; but it may not be the most convenient plan for our passengers.
I’ve always harbored a secret desire to become a pilot, but always figured it was too late since I already graduated college with a chemistry degree. How does someone train to become a commercial pilot if they aren’t in the military? Is there a stigma for those not coming from a military background? — Jon
There are many ways to get started. But for someone who is as smart and educated as you, I have to ask, why? Why would you want to become a pilot? It is not what you may think it is: 16 to 18 days away from home every month, long days, bad hotels, bad food, etc. But it is such a cool job!
Get in touch with a flight school. You need to get many certificates of training. These are private pilot, commercial pilot, instrument pilot, and airline transport pilot certificates. After you get your certificates, you need to fulfill a level of flying experience by logging a certain number of actual flight hours. Then you begin to run the gauntlet of the hiring process to get a real flying job.
I don’t perceive a stigma regarding military- vs. civilian-trained pilots. When I was hired at the majors in the mid 1980′s, there weren’t too many civilian-trained pilots in our ranks because the military commitments were not as long. Now, the class and craft differences of our backgrounds are minimized.
Also, do you have to have perfect, uncorrected eyesight? — Jon
My guess is no, but you would have to inquire with each company. For just getting certificates you don’t need perfect vision. This is usually a sorting criterion in the hiring selection.
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I totally laud the answer to the first question and agree that would indeed be the best way to collect info. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if the person asking the question didn’t find the answer satisfactory. I’m not saying the pilot will lie about his biodata. However, if at the time of booking a flight I have a set of data available, I will probably choose a airline that does not have all newbies.
A few years ago I joined a couple of pilots for a meal at Wendy’s at Intercontinental Airport in Houston. Capt Steve is right. These guys loved to talk about their training, types of aircraft, the aviation industry, etc. It was pretty obvious they were in love with their profession.
I often travel between LGA and an airport in the southeast. Coming back to LGA it only takes me twenty minutes to get to my departure airport and 99% of the time when I get there the internet updates and the departure screens tell me everything is on time. I get through security and end up waiting 6-8 hours because either the plane is not there or ATC at LGA won’t let us leave. I have heard I could track my plane’s whereabouts if I had its tail number. How can I do this and evaluate the extent of the backup at LGA?
I know you’ve mentioned earlier that the majority of landings are done completely manually with no auto-pilot interference.
That being said, how much of a flight IS controlled by the auto-pilot, and what exactly does it do for the pilots?
My father (56yrs old) will not get on a plane. I live in Portland, 1500 miles from where I grew up, so anytime my parents want to visit, they either have to drive for 3 days or take the train. I believe his anxiety is related to giving up control and occasional turbulence. He once mentioned to me that when the descent starts, the pilots just slow the plane down until you start to “fall out of the sky” at a controlled rate. Can you give me a more reasonable explanation? Surely you control the angle and rate of descent; it’s not just gravity making the plane land.
I’m sure pilots love to stand around and talk all day but seriously…
In the cattle call that is airplane boarding these days, I would think the last thing the flight crew wants is an interview session with boarding passangers.
Pilot “Im sorry for the delay folks, but we have missed our depature window because I was busy talking about my old college, we should be moving here in about then 30 mins.”
@4: A lot of the flight is controlled in any plane with an autopilot if for no other reason than to make life easier for the pilot. Flying a jet up in Class A airspace (above 18,000) feet is an involved job between waypoints. The plane must maintain heading exactly lest the plane get off the IFR airway and must maintain altitude within a few feet. (+/- 100 feet and air traffic control will call you to tell you that you are off your assigned altitude.) When driving a car, the roads do not randomly bank or move up and down on you. A plane in flight, however, can be moved up or down or sideways hundreds of feet in the blink of an eye by an unexpected gust of wind. A pilot lacking autopilot must be constantly making adjustments in flight unless the weather is perfectly calm and this will take all their attention.
An auopilot will keep you at the correct heading and altitude in spite of shifting winds and changes to the plane (remember that as the plane burns fuel its flying characteristics change!) The pilot and co-pilot need to monitor essential systems and communicate with the various air traffic controllers along the route as they are handed from tower to tower.
I am a private pilot and do most of my flying by hand simply because my trips aren’t that long. Recently, however, I flew cross country from central Texas to western Florida using IFR routing and was very thankful I had autopilot available to me. When I fly using autopilot I get myself on heading and to the correct altitude but the autopilots used by the commercial carriers can practically do the entire flight for the pilot.
@5: “Fall out of the sky” sounds more harsh than what actually happens. A plane ascends when the upward forces (lift+the vertical component of thrust) are greater than the downward force (gravity) and vice vers afor descent. While the pilot can just push the nose over to descend, this also causes the plane to accelerate. The better plan, when preparing for landing, is to start slowing down some distance from the airport so that the plane has slightly less lift than that needed to maintain level flight. Then the plane can achieve the desired descent rate that makes for predictable, controlled flight. It is akin to slowing a car that was traveling at constant speed. One doesn’t have to take one’s foot off the gas completely to slow down, simply giving the car less gas than that required to maintain constant speed will slow the car.
Why aren’t airlines able to foresee super-long delays on the tarmac/runway which occur before takeoff? (I’m talking about those 3 or more hour delays which I have experienced and heard about from friends and relatives). And why can’t they de-ice the plane before people get on?