Any pilots here?

Dynix · 28 Jul 2017 at 17:15

I ended up emailing a certain CEO on Wednesday evening (and got a very prompt reply, I must say) which definitely rustled a few feathers at my school and CAA. I can't divulge into detail but we found out why the CCC I was given wasn't accepted this morning. The day has ended with me getting a phone call from the CAA saying the application has been pushed through and issued, but won't be dispatched until Monday.

Nice to experience all the bad press I read about the CAA for myself! Can't imagine how some of you have survived dealing with them through your careers so far!

inferno · 28 Jul 2017 at 18:54

Finished my 777 rating, submitted the paperwork and got my temporary licence from the authority in 4hrs, so a bit quicker than the CAA I imagine!

Dynix · 28 Jul 2017 at 19:43

Congrats!

FL630 · 28 Jul 2017 at 20:54

Well done Inferno. What were you on before?

Blinkz · 28 Jul 2017 at 23:05

After 12 years I finally got back into a glider! Spent the day at Lasham with some friends from my old uni gliding club. I'd forgotten how much fun it is! Sadly the weather was crap so there was no decent soaring (the downside to Lasham being dependant on thermals!) Managed to have nearly an hours flight which wasn't bad. Def tempted to try and go solo in them again now.

inferno · 29 Jul 2017 at 09:35

FL630 said:
Well done Inferno. What were you on before?

Cheers guys!

320 and then 330, 777 seems much better in non normals from my minimal experience. The plane seems clunky compared airbus on day to day things, autopilot system seems much more complex and confusing compared to airbus which surprised me, but non normals are much much simpler so it's a trade off! MTOW is a bit more at 351 tonnes and I feel a bit more like a "real" pilot than on airbus

Not bad going for this guy, Heathrow captain at BA age 32 and joined in 2011!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/07/28/married-ba-co-pilots-say-ideal-working-partnership/

Blinkz · 30 Jul 2017 at 03:28

inferno said:
Cheers guys!

320 and then 330, 777 seems much better in non normals from my minimal experience. The plane seems clunky compared airbus on day to day things, autopilot system seems much more complex and confusing compared to airbus which surprised me, but non normals are much much simpler so it's a trade off! MTOW is a bit more at 351 tonnes and I feel a bit more like a "real" pilot than on airbus

Not bad going for this guy, Heathrow captain at BA age 32 and joined in 2011!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/07/28/married-ba-co-pilots-say-ideal-working-partnership/[/QUOTE

Haha I was at Oxford with his wife. Although I think she was a few courses after me.

Isn't it quite common to have young/recently joined shorthaul captains in BA now? Pretty much everyone I know in BA say it's mainly due to the fact that the BA shorthaul lifestyle is awful and no one wants to do it?

Although I'm not sure I can talk to you since you're an Airbus traitor

real pilot on a Boeing?? Lies

thingemajib · 30 Jul 2017 at 16:43

Let's not turn this into an AvB thread, there's enough of them on the internet. Let's just accept that inferno has come to his/her senses and made the right choice

FL630 · 30 Jul 2017 at 17:48

Why not have the best of both worlds and have an Embr..... actually no, I'll stop there before I embarrass myself

From a BA SH point of view, as correctly said, I don't think it's the old 10+ yrs to LHS any more, turnover is quite large. Certainly at CFE our turnover of flight crew is huge, almost guaranteed captain at 3000hrs so long as you're not a total chump. But realistically, from an early career point (like myself), where do you go which treats you well yet has career opportunities to go long haul? I'd say pretty much nowhere right now.

Remember, we are not pilots, we are machines. Sleep is optional, rest is optional, work is life, life is work.

NewGamer11 · 30 Jul 2017 at 17:52

inferno said:
Finished my 777 rating, submitted the paperwork and got my temporary licence from the authority in 4hrs, so a bit quicker than the CAA I imagine!

Sweet! Can you do loops and barrel rolls?

Seriously though, I like those planes so well done.

thingemajib · 30 Jul 2017 at 22:10

FL630 said:
Why not have the best of both worlds and have an Embr.....

At least your Embraers have autothrottle - one thing I missed in my research is that the 145s don't!

Ste · 31 Jul 2017 at 20:55

Hello again pilots

There was an A321 returning from Turkey to Manchester (Thomas Cook) a couple of days back that had to shed 100 passengers due to a technical issue.

What on earth could be severe enough to need to ditch that many people but still safe enough to fly on?

Is it likely some procedural thing like number of passengers per working toilet or is there something more technical and interesting behind it?

FL630 · 1 Aug 2017 at 15:08

Ste said:
Hello again pilots

There was an A321 returning from Turkey to Manchester (Thomas Cook) a couple of days back that had to shed 100 passengers due to a technical issue.

What on earth could be severe enough to need to ditch that many people but still safe enough to fly on?

Is it likely some procedural thing like number of passengers per working toilet or is there something more technical and interesting behind it?

I asked a few of my Tommy mates and none knew what happened. However, one of them said it's most likely down to a doors issue, more likely the lack of spares to fix said issue. For a plane to depart I imagine there must be a set amount of exits for the pax load, don't ask me how many as that's the job of Mr. Airbus or Boeing, I'm just a button presser

It wouldn't surprise me if it somehow tallies in with the 50 pax per cabin crew rule.

It must have been financially more beneficial to the airline to operate a half full aircraft than cancel and wait for the parts to arrive. Doesn't make sense to me but airlines can do funny things to protect the "big picture".

Dynix · 1 Aug 2017 at 15:37

Licence has arrived today so I can now start taking passengers! :cool:

thingemajib · 1 Aug 2017 at 17:53

Ste said:
Hello again pilots

There was an A321 returning from Turkey to Manchester (Thomas Cook) a couple of days back that had to shed 100 passengers due to a technical issue.

What on earth could be severe enough to need to ditch that many people but still safe enough to fly on?

Is it likely some procedural thing like number of passengers per working toilet or is there something more technical and interesting behind it?

The company would have a Minimum Equipment List for the aircraft - if something breaks then the plane might still be able to go flying but maybe with some restrictions, eg (completely making these examples up btw) Seat 13D reading light blown? - no issue. Landing gear staying down and locked? - can be ferried empty to a maintenance base and speed limited to xyz kts. Coffee machine broke? - Grounded.

Sounds like something on the A321 broke that really limited their max take off weight. My poorly educated guess would be one of the wheel brakes failing - that would mean that they wouldn't be able to safely stop before the end of the runway if they had to abort the takeoff at the last second with a full load, but still could with only half the load. That said I could also be talking completely out of my arse here...

FL630 · 1 Aug 2017 at 18:19

thingemajib said:
That said I could also be talking completely out of my arse here...

Isn't that part of the job description?

thingemajib · 1 Aug 2017 at 18:20

FL630 said:
Isn't that part of the job description?

"Minor technical difficulties"

Dynix · 4 Aug 2017 at 19:04

Took my first passenger up today - my partner! Had quite the crosswind at the airfield so I almost called it but was within my personal limits - she loved every second of it, also one of my better landings! Just filling out the paperwork after we landed and one of the other schools aircraft declared a mayday whilst in the circuit. Was very evidently something wrong with the engine, could hear it from the ground. We removed the cowling after they landed and one of the intakes on the cylinders had come off so it had lost power. Both pilot and passenger (it was his first time!) were ok albeit shaken.

SupraWez · 27 Aug 2017 at 22:55

Had a great flight this morning, first one since beginning of June as been busy with other commitments, the weather and visibility were amazing. As I hadn't flown for a while we went through dual check, like a mini test that covers everything including stall and spin recovery etc.

Next flight will be a circuit refresher with some solo and then back onto my nav, only have one more to complete before my solo nav hopefully.

Dynix · 29 Aug 2017 at 10:05

SupraWez said:
Had a great flight this morning, first one since beginning of June as been busy with other commitments, the weather and visibility were amazing. As I hadn't flown for a while we went through dual check, like a mini test that covers everything including stall and spin recovery etc.

Next flight will be a circuit refresher with some solo and then back onto my nav, only have one more to complete before my solo nav hopefully.

Glad to hear you're back in the air! Only managed two flights since my last post - a bit busy with work.

Any pilots here?

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