Questions tagged [airline-operations]
Refers to questions asking about airline practices, procedures, and processes both in the employment arena and in flight.
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Why can some aircraft not fly near the north pole?
The Adiru on the Airbus 320 has an limit like 84°N latitude. What happens if the plane is flown above that latitude?
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Why Ryanair flies from both Stansted and Luton as they are very close
I am doing a research on my future trip from the United Kingdom to the Republic of Ireland and noticed Ryanair flies from both Luton and Stansted to there. Those two airports are quite close to each ...
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Why would planes with two autopilots have just one active during cruise?
I know that the plane must have two autopilots for flying approaches, but why have individual buttons for each autopilot? Wouldn't it be easier to have both autopilots work at the same time for the ...
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Why did flight AC8823 not land in Washington and why fly to Toronto?
My family and I were in Washington D. C. Reagan airport waiting for the Air Canda 8823 on 14 March 2023 (the aircraft that was supposed to fly us back home to Montreal).
I was following the flight on ...
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Will ADS-B eventually replace TCAS antennas on airliners?
I still seem to confuse myself about ADS-B. Will ADS-B eventually replace TCAS antennas on airliners? Or are those still a relevant part of the ADS-B system? And I guess just to add in, why don't ...
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At what height would a pilot apply TOGA during a go around Vs getting simply vectored somewhere else?
If a pilot has to go around Early in a approach, he can simply be vectored to get reestablish. At what point would the pilot decide to apply TOGA other than obviously at minimums?
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How often do airline pilots actually have to avoid other aircraft that ATC did not tell them about at cruise altitude?
I know any pilot flying in VMC, whether under VFR or IFR, must "see and avoid." How often do airline pilots actually "see" and have to "avoid" other traffic at cruise ...
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Why does the order of airline chart and general chart pages in Jeppesen charts differ according to chart types and airports?
Why do the order of airline and normal pages in Jeppesen charts differ according to chart types and airports? For example, although the airline chart comes first and then the general chart in the ILS ...
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What would be the "minimum" number of flight crews per aircraft in a small low cost airline?
Let's say we own a small company flying 10 airplanes (A32X/B73X/A220/E-Jet) in high density low cost environment. Leaving all other costs outside the equation, What would be the minimum flight crew ...
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Deviation within an airway
I'm a plane spotter with only general information about air traffic. I'm aware that airplanes can fly only alongside airways. They should fly on the middle of the air routes. However, each airway is ...
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Why not use radio to communicate with ramp marshall instead of marshalling signals?
Why don’t we just use radio to communicate with the ramp marshall instead of all the hand signals? They could just say move a little left or right, stop etc instead of learning all the hand signals.
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Why is destination, flight level, and mach number needed in an oceanic clearance?
When getting an oceanic clearance. The aircraft must announce thier destination airport, their intended flight level, and intended mach cruise speed. Why are these necessary?
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Commercial Operator vs Air Carrier
What is the difference between a commercial operator and an air carrier? What certificates do you need for both? I saw somewhere online that you need an operating certificate for both air carrier and ...
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Under which circumstances were 727s or 737s used for long-haul flights?
I've been intrigued by the occasional picture of a 727 crossing the Atlantic, like this Air France in Miami from the late 1960s. Under which circumstances would such narrow-body aircrafts (most ...
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What is the minimum manpower required for A320 start up airline
Ideally on a A320 aircraft how many captains, first officers and cabin cre would be required for a start up airline accounting for 2 Management Captains, standby, training, sickness, leave, mandatory ...
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Does anything prevent an airline from claiming that a flight cancellation was due to weather, when it was actually for another reason?
American Airlines has a policy that if a flight is cancelled for any reason other than weather, AA will pay for stranded passengers' hotel and meals until the passengers' rebooked flight. If the ...
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How is airline fuel hedging actually done?
When airlines refuel at the airport are they all billed at the same rate on the day? Similar to cars at a gas station?
For example if Southwest has hedged and paying a dollar less per gallon than its ...
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What can you do with an ATP that you can’t with an R-ATP?
So I know about the different requirements for an ATP vs R-ATP but I can’t find what you are able to do with a full ATP that you can’t do with an R-ATP
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Which countries use qfe field pressure?
I heard that acrobatic flight, Russians, Americans use qfe but is it always the case?
Also why doesn't everyone use it?
Isn't qfe field pressure better than qnh local pressure...
Does a pilot ever use ...
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What is "taxi speed" for an Airbus?
In the FCOM we can see a lot of "taxi speed", for example after landing:
AT TAXI SPEED, ALL REVERSER LEVERS......STOW
But what is taxi speed? Is there any definition or particular number? ...
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What are Market Share, Market Size & yield in aviation network planning? [closed]
I came across the terms Market share, size & yield in aviation network planning. I don't really know what that means, anyone can provide me with a simplified explanation or maybe a reference where ...
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What is needed in a plane to fly approach mode?
Do you need anything other than approach mode to be able to have the plane fly the ILS to minimums? Do you need a EFD (glass cokpit) or can it be done with steam gages as well?
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Difference between Maintenance planning document(MPD) and Maintenance Manual (AMM)
Could someone explain to a layman, relatively new to Aviation maintenance, the difference between the Maintenance planning document(s) (MPD) and the Maintenance manual (AMM). Is one a subset of the ...
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Do pilots of modern high-end aircraft normally communicate their destination to ATC?
Do pilots of modern high-end aircraft ever verbally communicate their destination to ATC? My understanding is clearance delivery is done electronically and when listening to ATC I haven't heard any ...
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How does the passenger load impact the direct costs and pricing strategy?
I am sitting at the airport and I was wondering if there is an optimal number of passengers to try to board a plane through an interesting fare.
Flying an empty plane is obviously the worst situation: ...
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Two low flying large planes made bank turn - not on radar [closed]
On Thursday March 10, 2022, at approx. 7:30pm in Monroe, Connecticut, I witnessed two full sized planes following one another extremely low and then make an incredible bank turn.
These planes did not ...
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What does a dispatcher do if an aircraft can't stay on a NAT route due to a communications failure?
For example, a flight is enroute form from LEJ (Leipzig/Halle Airport, Germany) to MIA (Miami, USA) on a North Atlantic Track (NAT). Now suppose there is an issue with the communication or CPDLC of ...
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Since 9/11, for international flights, have any airlines made regular technical stops in the US?
Since 9/11, has any airline had scheduled international passenger flights with a technical stop at any US airport?
(A technical stop means all passengers and crew stay on the plane without going ...
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What routes are available for airliners to fly from Europe to Japan without entering Russian airspace?
Under the present circumstances it seems like for an European vector flying above Russian airspace can be dangerous (I don't know if Russian airspace is currently closed).
However reaching Japan from ...
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Does dual given in an approved AATD/FTD under Part 141 count towards the total sim time allowed for ATP in 61.159(a)(6)?
Reviewing 61.159(a)(6), it mentions that an applicant cannot credit more than 100 hours in simulator towards their total aeronautical experience as long as it was conducted as part of a 141, 142, 121, ...
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In aircraft ventilation, what is meant by temperature increasing/decreasing for calculating the on-ground threshold?
In an open-circuit configuration, in normal operation, the A320 FCOM states:
The open-circuit configuration operates when skin temperature is above the on-ground threshold.
On-ground threshold = +12C ...
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Airline Ground Operations via ACARS
I read about the ACARS "In Range" request pilots can send to request cabin services, lavatory services, wheel chairs, assistance for unaccompanied minors, etc. What about other services such ...
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Does the rule that alcohol on flights must be served by a flight attendant also apply to private flights?
Regarding the recent incidents and fines the FAA levied it said in the following release:
"Federal law prohibits passengers from consuming alcohol aboard a flight that is not served by a flight ...
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What is the difference between "cruise" and "en-route"?
I have a little misunderstanding about the two concepts: Cruise and En-route.
Could you guys help me to compare the similarities and differences between these two concepts, maybe in some aspect like ...
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Is there a framework for inter-country rules enforcement?
I have a US pilot's license and if I do anything foolish or infringe an important rule while flying in the US, the FAA can take action such as order more training, suspend my license for a while, or ...
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Why did my plane descend nose down?
I was on a flight recently and the plane started to descend normally etc. However one cabin crew member randomly announced "remember if we have an emergency landing please leave all your ...
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What sort of briefing and planning information would an airline pilot in the 1960-70s have used?
Slightly related: Do airliners get substantially different weather briefings from the rest of us?
Highly related: How was the navigation managed on jetliners before having programmable routes?
Highly ...
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How is the gate/stand communicated to airline pilots?
I have heard that pilots use Controller–Pilot Data Link Communication or ACARS to know which gate (or stand?) they are supposed to be going to but haven't been able to find a definitive answer. Does ...
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Why did this FedEx flight (FDX1311) take such an indirect route multiple times?
I was looking at flights from DEN -> MEM, and saw this extra-long route that FDX1311 took last night (9 Aug 2021)
Thinking they were probably just avoiding storms, I scrolled down and saw there ...
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How does an airline develop a Safety Management System (SMS) program? [closed]
How does an airline develop an SMS program? Like from the ground up. And who does it involve? Does it involve regulators?
I know the 4 pillars but who does it involve?
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Do airliners get substantially different weather briefings from the rest of us?
Southwest Airlines flights were delayed and cancelled this week due to an outage in their third-party weather provider. I understand if they have a streamlined business process for getting weather ...
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What is the expected reaction of a civil airliner pilot upon an invalid request from a fighter jet?
After asking a question about the recent diversion/pirating of the Ryanair flight in Belarus (that got closed, but has a nice answer), I got to wonder about how the pilot should have had behaved in ...
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Can an airline rewrite a flight's origin airport for the day, following an earlier diversion?
Suppose a domestic US civilian carrier regularly flies flight N directly from airport A to airport B, and flies back flight M from B to A.
Now, one day, the aircraft flying N is diverted to airport C, ...
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How could Airbus better tailor the A380 to the modern market? [closed]
I understand any company do things that give net profit. But, had not manufacturing newer engines that increase its Endurance and Range saved it from its decline?
Airbus had designed the A380 to ...
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How is flight planning performed with short turnaround times?
For low cost carrier short-haul flight such as Dortmund-London I have experienced multiple times that turnaround times are around 20-25 minutes. In such a short time what is included in the flight ...
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If an airliner turns back midway, how is the route planned?
There's several incidents of "flights to nowhere", e.g. https://onemileatatime.com/klm-787-nine-hour-flight-to-nowhere/
After a pilot decides to turn back, how is this handled from a routing/...
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What is the difference between leasing and chartering?
As written above, what is the difference between leasing and chartering? Is it the same thing and if not what are the differences?
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How to get an accurate time of arrival to the en-route alternate airport during flight planning?
I was thinking about accurate criteria of selecting en-route alternate (ERA) weather from ground (planning stage) especially for ERA 3% contingency flight plan.
As we all know we should care about one ...
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How long it takes for Pilots to prepare for landing?
I'm wondering how many minutes prior to Final approach do pilots decide what type of approach they will carry on with at the arrival airport like (VISUAL/CATI,II,IIIA,IIIB) ?
Like how many minutes ...
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What is the time-lag between an airline's decision to serve a route and the starting of its service?
I was wondering whether there is any literature about the time-lag between the moment in which an airline decides to enter a given route and pays the associated fixed costs and the moment in which the ...
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