116
votes
Accepted
Why did my flight climb so sharply on takeoff?
Your flight took off during a storm. During a storm, the wind speed close to the surface of the earth is much lower than the wind speed a bit higher up. This variation of wind speed over a short ...
- 82.9k
107
votes
Accepted
Does the sterile cockpit rule mean flight attendants could not inform the pilots if a passenger is in the lavatory while on final?
"Sterile Cockpit" refers to the concept that pilots should not discuss anything not related to the flight during certain phases of flight (often defined as below FL100).
A passenger occupying the ...
- 36.2k
106
votes
Accepted
Why did this FedEx flight (FDX1311) take such an indirect route multiple times?
Purpose
FDX1311 is a daily scheduled flight, called a flying spare, or more colloquially a sweeper. It's a provision to remedy unplanned events which would otherwise prevent customers shipments to ...
- 71k
101
votes
Accepted
Is a firm landing an indication of the pilot inexperience?
First of all, the landing should be in the touchdown zone. Often I see pilots try to achieve a very smooth landing but floating far out of the touchdown zone before touching terra firma. Then they ...
- 82.9k
67
votes
Is it practical to become an airline pilot in order to travel internationally?
No, this is not a good idea, and No, it is not possible finish your education at 23, and then get employed as an intercontinental airline pilot.
It seems you have a distorted idea of what an airline ...
- 37.5k
67
votes
Accepted
Why was my flight cancelled due to bad weather while other flights were not?
In general, flights get cancelled when arriving flights are delayed or themselves cancelled. Your flight needs three critical things to depart on time, or at all:
an airplane,
flight + cabin crew, ...
- 23.3k
62
votes
Accepted
Why do paratroopers not get sucked out of their aircraft when the bay door opens?
The difference is in the pressurization. An aircraft with skydivers or paratroopers would either not pressurize in the first place or smoothly depressurize the cabin using the outflow valve before ...
- 54.3k
61
votes
Does the sterile cockpit rule mean flight attendants could not inform the pilots if a passenger is in the lavatory while on final?
"Sterile cockpit" doesn't mean abject silence; it means no idle chitchat.
An issue relating to the safety of passengers is not idle chitchat, so it can be discussed at any time during the flight.
60
votes
Why don't commercial passenger safety videos ever explain policy instead of merely dictating it?
There is no time. You need to convey the information in as little time as possible or people (those few that watch at all) lose interest and start doing other things.
Reasoning tends to invite ...
- 15.9k
59
votes
Accepted
What risks come from passengers taking baggage during emergency evacuation?
As soon as there's a fire on board, the absolute top priority is getting everybody out as soon as possible. Aircraft are designed in such a way that, even after a crash landing (or other serious ...
- 1,943
59
votes
Can ATC handle a flight as emergency although the pilots have not declared an emergency?
In the US, a controller has the authority to treat any situation as an emergency, and they do. I have had controllers "declare" an emergency multiple times, even when I thought I did not ...
- 17.7k
56
votes
Is there a maximum possible size for an airplane?
It is no accident that the biggest birds are flightless. The ability to fly goes down with increasing size, so there is also an upper limit for aircraft. The main reason is that as size increases, ...
- 230k
56
votes
Is 3 crew cockpit safer than 2 crew?
No aircraft ever had more than two pilots (on duty at the same time).
The additional flight crew members were flight engineer, navigator and radio operator.
Dedicated radio operators were only ...
- 56.2k
56
votes
Accepted
Why do all airliners have life jackets?
The plane would be lighter.
Not by much.
It cannot be hard to dedicate different planes to different routes.
This adds to the logistics difficulties in scheduling the airframes. It's MUCH easier ...
- 4,608
55
votes
Can a few random interaction with cockpit controls result in a crash?
There's a real-life example that seems very similar: Aeroflot 593. The pilots let two children sit in the cockpit while the aircraft was on autopilot. One of the children pushed the control column for ...
- 71.6k
55
votes
Why are airlines so concerned with checked baggage weight?
Airlines do care about your carry-on weight and even your weight. Many have carry-on weight limits, which low-cost carriers usually enforce, weighing the carry-on and tagging it as cabin luggage. Full-...
53
votes
Accepted
Why are 'ghost flights' necessary?
Airliners are both larger and more complex than the small aircraft you're familiar with at your local flight school. For an example of some of the items to consider, see: What do you need to do to ...
- 71.8k
52
votes
Accepted
Can commercial airliners fly over central Antarctica during winter?
Surface air temperatures aren't really going to be relevant for an airliner. The temperature of the troposphere doesn't vary that much. In fact, the troposphere is warmer at the poles (from Wikipedia ...
- 9,152
48
votes
Is it possible that meteor could strike a commercial airliner?
Yes, it is possible, however unlikely!
The final report into the downing of MH17 investigated the possibility that the aeroplane was hit by "meteor or space debris"
In section 3.5 a number of ...
- 31.8k
48
votes
Accepted
How much does it cost the airline if an aircraft misses its take-off slot?
A slot time is issued for aircraft flying through busy airspaces or to busy airports where the demand (number of flights) exceeds the capacity. If 50 flights are planned to arrive at an airport in 1 ...
- 36.2k
47
votes
Is a firm landing an indication of the pilot inexperience?
A perfect landing is seen as one where the contact with the runway is almost imperceptible.
No, the perfect landing is firm. The aircraft should touch down with a not strong, but still perceptible ...
- 56.2k
45
votes
Accepted
What if all passengers pay to check in extra baggage?
To answer the questions as asked,
We won't depart over the maximum takeoff weight. We'll do something to bring the takeoff weight down to not exceed the limit.
Generally, people fly as scheduled if ...
- 49.8k
45
votes
How much of an improvement would a 1% weight decrease on an airplane be to the industry?
There is an easy way to get an idea of what magnitude the savings are: The Breguet equation can answer this. You first calculate a reference aircraft and then start all over with one that weighs 1% ...
- 230k
43
votes
Accepted
Do any aircraft carry spare parts for making repairs?
South African Airways flights to 'less developed' locations in Africa often carry a mechanic and some spares on board. If there are no suitable repair facilities, supplies or maintenance personnel ...
- 71.6k
42
votes
Accepted
Do commercial aeroplanes use ABS to brake?
Yes, they do. They are called Anti-Skid and they go from Mark I of 1948, with simply an on-off switch triggered by wheel lock, till Mark V (or at least that's the last I've seen), with quite complex ...
- 32.4k
40
votes
Accepted
How many lives would be saved if the airlines turned all the seats around?
The evidence is not the most recent one, but
According to an article in the December 1952 edition of Naval Aviation News, “Passengers in Navy transport planes have ten-fold better chances of coming ...
- 230k
40
votes
Accepted
Is it possible to stall a plane so badly that the nose refuses to go down due to lack of airspeed?
Yes it's called a Deep Stall, and is mostly a problem with T Tail aircraft, especially jets with Supercritical Airfoil wings (like the CRJ Regional Jet line).
Such wings stall from the leading edge ...
- 126k
39
votes
Accepted
Why are accident rates higher on smaller aircraft?
The amount of resources that go into commercial aviation are really amazing -- the amount of time, talent, money, and effort that have gone into making the airlines the safest mode of travel known to ...
- 49.8k
39
votes
Do commercial flights continue with an engine out?
The image looks like four engines running at the same cruise thrust. The wake vortex is blowing the exhaust of the inboard engines down and the exhaust of the outboard engines out and in the ...
- 56.2k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible