Questions tagged [pilots]
For questions specifically pertaining to pilots themselves, rather than aircraft or flying; use [career] instead where applicable.
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Why does an airplane captain sit in the left seat?
For almost every airline, the captain sits in the left seat, and the first officer on the right.
We know that in most countries right-side traffic and some have left-side.
During training, the ...
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What would happen if a pilot tried to land with a tailwind? [duplicate]
What if a pilot was forced to land in a tailwind? Would this be possible and what is the maximum tailwind an aircraft can handle?
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Is there a best-practice method to work through a checklist?
I've noticed that there appear to be many ways to read of a checklist between aircraft types and operators. The task and work division confuse me:
In some cases it appears to be entirely managed by ...
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Is there any part of a flight where the pilot would pitch down?
Would the pilot ever pitch down (even slightly) during a flight, or would he/she simply reduce power to reduce altitude?
This question is not similar to Why do airplanes lift up their nose to climb? (...
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Did Flight Engineers progress to be pilots?
When 3 man cockpits were common place on commercial aircraft what was the career progression of a Flight Engineer like?
Did FE's normally transition to be pilots? I'm not trying to insinuate here ...
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What is the "optimal" age of a fighter pilot?
Fighter pilots are always portrayed as young, fit men (and woman), in their 20s and 30s - and most of the F16 pilots I know are that age.
However, today someone, who is over 50 years old, mentioned ...
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How many flying hours does one need to become a commercial pilot in the Philippines?
I'm trying to calculate all the expenses to become a pilot in the Philippines.
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What do professional commercial pilots do to counteract boredom? [duplicate]
With the eyes of a layman, it seems to be a wonderful thing to fly a big airplane between continents. From an initial perspective anyway.
During a transatlantic fight, pilots can see the water of the ...
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What kind of sunglasses are good for flying?
I'm a beginner at aviation. I'm currently in training for gliders license.
Our instructors mentioned that sunglasses are very important if not mandatory.
What kind of properties do I need to look for ...
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What can airline pilots do if they are no longer in the position to fly, career-wise?
I was having a discussion with a friend about the incident in the past days (4U 9525) and more specifically the what could be described as 'Taboo' of Psychological problems among pilots. We came ...
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Has any prior accident been caused by a psychologically unstable and/or suicidal crew member?
I am aware a lot of psychological tests are given to pilots to prevent such a scenario, but those can hardly be perfect, so has any aviation accident been caused (or attempted) by the conscious ...
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Why pilots would leave the cockpit in a short flight?
I've occasionally read about pilots being locked out of the cockpit in flight, and was wondering:
Why might a pilot leave the cockpit during a short flight (1-2 hours)?
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Is it plausible to forget the cockpit unlocking code?
Is it plausible for a pilot inside the cockpit to be incapacitated and that at the same time the pilot locked outside simply doesn't remember the code or the procedure for entering the cockpit?
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What happens when a pilot is incapacitated? [duplicate]
Is there a contingency for such a situation, where one of the pilots leaves the cockpit, the other pilot is incapacitated (for example losing consciousness) while the first pilot is still outside the ...
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What is the difference between targeted airspeed and selected airspeed?
Are Targeted Airspeed and selected Airspeed the same thing?
And can someone explain in what cases managed airspeed or pilot selected airspeed would be used, i.e. for different flight phases/...
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What button is this pilot pressing with his thumb?
In this video (marker 4:23), what button is the pilot thumbing on the yoke?
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Why can't pilots drink alcohol after a flight?
Why are pilots told not to drink alcoholic drinks even after landing, even when their next flight is more than 24 hours later?
Is this some kind of precautionary rule?
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How do commercial airlines prepare for pilots falling sick during the flight?
According to this article, the pilot suffered a heart attack mid-air and a passenger helped in landing the plane safely.
How does commercial airlines prepare themselves for these kind of situations. ...
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What happens when an airline pilot decides not to fly at the last minute?
What happens when a commercial airline pilot wants to remove himself from a flight a short time before takeoff (say an hour or less)? He obviously can't be forced to fly, and there may be very good ...
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How do pilots manage to remember ATC instructions?
Before takeoff, during flight, before landing and for taxiing, pilots are given several instructions by ATC.
Do they mentally remember all instructions? Or do they note them down somewhere such as in ...
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Can a passenger request to visit the cockpit during a flight?
As a kid, I remember going to the cockpit of a plane with my mom (I believe the airline was AOM French Airlines).
Is this still possible now?
I understand the answer might differ with different ...
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Why do aviation careers have age limits?
Many aviation careers have mandatory retirement ages.
Airline Pilot (licensed with FAA): 65 (raised from age 60 a few years ago)
Controller
FAA: 56
NATS: 60
Why do these age limits exist? Is it a ...
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Is a pilot allowed to sleep during a flight?
While in a flight, a pilot wants to sleep. Given that the aircraft has an autopilot facility, are they allowed to sleep for a while (e.g., half an hour)?
What would happen if it's not allowed, but ...
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Are the communications between captain and flight attendants standardized?
Premises
For usual communications between pilots and ATC, a specific phraseology is followed.
In case of an an unexpected event (e.g. a sick passenger), flight attendants and pilots can communicate ...
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Is there any reason to use only UTC standard time in aircraft and not GMT?
Why are we not using the GMT time standard in an aircraft? Why is only UTC the standard on-board?
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Why do commercial helo pilots wear helmets?
I've been on my fair share of commercial helo rides, primarily in Canada. Over the course of more than ten rides in three different kind of helos (Bell 407, 412, and I think one other) there was only ...
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What if pilot feels too tired before his flight?
Today is a day when I feel terribly tired. I'm not ill, but I could sleep all the day, though I had enough sleep last night.
This is not a problem if you have an office job where you can probably be ...
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How do you meet pilots looking for passengers?
I enjoy being up in the air. Planes, gliders, helicopters... you name it, I like it.
What is an effective way to meet pilots looking for passengers?
I'm guessing that some pilots would like ...
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Can civilians fly military aircraft?
I saw a few videos of the Sukhoi Su-35 doing some amazing aerobatics and I was wondering if a civilian could ever fly one - either for aerobatics or just fly it as their personal jet.
Obviously ...
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Can I get a photo with the pilots?
Could I, as a passenger, get a picture with the pilots in the cockpit before takeoff/after landing? I'm asking specifically about any rules that would deny a passenger into the cockpit. I know this is ...
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Who has the authority between captain and first officer in emergencies?
Yes I know, Captain has authority over First Officer.
I was reading about Airblue Flight 202 and according to the investigation, First Officer said these words 40 seconds before crash:
Sir turn ...
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Can a passenger realistically replace suddenly incapacitated pilots?
Yes, this is a question from the movies. Assume that the plane is in flight and in perfect mechanical conditions. However, all the pilots onboard are suddenly incapacitated.
Can a passenger without ...
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Who was the oldest pilot ever so far?
Based on any historical records, who has been the oldest pilot ever? "Pilot", I mean, somebody who managed to take off, return to the airport and land without help. That much is probably not possible ...
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How do fighter pilots manage food, drink & toilet?
There doesn't seem to be any place to bring food or drink.
And what about WC?
And for single seat combat planes?
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How does one address a first officer in conversation?
If I am just deplaning a commercial flight and I see the captain (4 bars on the epaulet) and want to thank him/her for a safe and enjoyable flight, I would say "Excuse me, Captain, thanks for the nice ...
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How to determine if pilots in crashes flew again?
I checked this post on Airliners.net , but the formatting is hard to read, and the information or hearsay may not be trustworthy. Also, I'm hoping for a more efficient, efficacious method, rather than ...
user128
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What measures were taken to keep Soviet airline pilots in the Soviet Union? [closed]
How did the Soviet Union keep airline pilots from leaving the country?
It seems like it would have been pretty easy to do since the pilots are already in the air. And I would guess at least some ...
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Why and when to use flaps?
On a commercial airliner, what is the purpose of the flaps? I understand that depending on which direction they move in, they can be used to decrease airspeed, but I don't know when flaps are used. ...
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Have pilots encountered a UFO, and what to do if you have?
Have pilots ever encountered a UFO? What guidelines, if any, are in place for times when this happens?
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What exactly is a QRH?
In this question about aircraft dumping fuel I was told that there may possible be guidance in the QRH. I know that there are a lot of guidelines given to pilots, but I've never heard of this one. ...
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Can one pilot lock the other out of the cockpit?
One seemingly plausible theory about the MH370 disappearance is that one or other of the pilots locked the other one out of the cockpit and then depressurised the cabin.
However, this answer mentions ...
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Does Russia still use a Snowtam to report normative brake friction?
Does Russia still use the normative (Russian) brake friction when reporting Snowtams for their airports? What about former Soviet (CIS) countries?
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What are the basics of flying non-revenue?
I've never worked for an airline, but I know that one of the benefits of working in the industry is that you can fly for free or almost free on a space-available basis. I realize that every airline ...
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Why do pilots announce the cruising altitude of a flight?
At some early stage in the flight, why will commercial pilots announce the cruising altitude of the flight?
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Can pilots hear their passengers clapping on touchdown?
Something that just popped into my head: I've been on a few easyJet and Ryanair flights where a lot of passengers clap and cheer on touchdown. Would the pilots be able to hear this?
Here's an example ...
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Why do we still use pilots to fly airplanes?
With the recent advances in drone and remote control technology, why are there still commercial and military pilots?
I understand that there can be some serious tactical advantages to human pilots in ...
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What to do if the captain smells like alcohol?
Suppose you're the co-pilot on a flight and during pre-flight, talking to the captain, you smell alcohol.
Although you didn't see him drinking and the smell isn't strong, what does regulation ...
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