Plane Answers: Water vapor in a jet’s A/C, flashing landing lights and a fuel question.

by Kent Wien on

Welcome to Gadling’s feature, Plane Answers, where our resident airline pilot, Kent Wien, answers your questions about everything from takeoff to touchdown and beyond. Have a question of your own? Ask away!

Zach asks,

Hi Kent,

My family and I recently flew from Cancun to Philadelphia. On the ground in Cancun, I noticed some sort of condensation coming out of the air conditioning ducts. To tell you the truth, it looked more like smoke than water vapor. The flight attendants didn’t seem to mind, and once we took off, the condensation dissipated. I’m a student pilot and a fairly frequent flyer, but I have never seen anything like it before. What was happening?

You’re on the right track, Zach. We often see condensation from the air conditioning ‘packs’ on airliners in hot cities with high humidity. On the 757 we often get so much moisture that we’ll see frozen ice pellets coming from the air vents. Enough ice can build up in the packs that the airflow drops off to almost nothing until we run the temperature to a warm setting for 30 seconds or so to melt this ice.

In flight, it doesn’t seem to be an issue at all, probably due to the drier air.

Irwin asks:

Recently, while waiting for a flight to arrive at West Palm Beach, FL, I watched another flight from a distance of several miles while they were on approach. As it got closer to the airport, I noticed his headlights were turning on & off, constantly, equal time on & off. There were no clouds and no obstructions of any kind. What was the pilot doing or signaling?
You more than likely saw a Southwest jet. They’ve equipped many, if not all their 737s with flashing landing lights that are supposed to make the aircraft easier to see inflight. Some corporate aircraft have had this feature for years and it may be coming to more airlines in the future.

Louise asks:

Where is jet fuel carried on passenger jets? …in the wings, the belly, below the luggage compartment? …or somewhere else? (We are trying to figure out what made that US Air plane FLOAT, even though the passenger compartment flooded… then we got curious… where IS the fuel stored/carried?!)

Thank you!

Most airliners store the fuel exclusively in the wings. Occasionally companies have offered long range tanks that take a small portion of the fuselage near the forward part of the wings for extra fuel at the expense of baggage area, but this is rather rare today.

The US Airways flight likely had only half of the maximum capacity of fuel on board. We’ve been told that an airliner is capable of several minutes of flotation and US Airways 1549 demonstrated that even with a torn lower fuselage, there was enough time to evacuate the aircraft.

The entire industry learned a great deal from that ditching.

Do you have a question about something related to the pointy end of an airplane? Ask Kent and maybe he’ll use it for next Monday’s Plane Answers. Check out his other blog, Cockpit Chronicles and travel along with him at work.

Plane Answers: First step to becoming a pilot and are regional jets safe?

by Kent Wien on

Welcome to Gadling’s feature, Plane Answers, where our resident airline pilot, Kent Wien, answers your questions about everything from takeoff to touchdown and beyond. Have a question of your own? Ask away!

Rich asks:

I’m 29 years of age and as long as I can remember, only one job fits my profile: a Pilot. The problem is, I got side-tracked in other areas due to lack of perseverance and confidence. Being a B student, with money in my pocket, knowing it’s ”never too late” … what should I do?

Rich, your timing might not be too bad. They always say that during a downturn the best investment is in yourself, and if you really want to fly, I think you should give it a try.

Step one is to go to www.letsgoflying.com and find a flight school near you. Visit the school, ask a bunch of questions and take a $100 intro flight. If you like the instructor, work on getting your private license.

After that, you’ll have a period that I call ‘no man’s land’ where you’ll need to build time from your 70 or so hours up to at least 210 hours before you can begin the training for your commercial, multi-engine and instrument certificates. To get through this time, I enlisted the help of a lot of friends and classmates at school to chip in and pay their portion of the aircraft rental charges to go flying.

After you get the commercial, multi-engine and instrument ratings, you can pick up your CFI (certified flight instructor) rating, and hopefully you’ll finally be able to turn around and start earning a bit of money while you’re instructing.
The instructors I flew with were from all walks of life, including school teachers, a police officer and a few airline pilots who were awfully generous to me with their time. So if you decide to instruct, it’s not like you have to give up your day job.

The only thing that could slow you down would be the economy and the lack of student starts at your local flight school. But if the worst that comes from this is that you achieve your private pilot license, you’re not doing too bad. You can then rent an airplane and enjoy one of the most exciting activities in life (yeah, I still love flying, especially antique and classic airplanes).

After another five years, retirements will likely pick up again since the retirement age was recently extended from 60 to 65. At that point, regional airlines will be losing pilots to the majors and may need to attract new recruits in significant numbers.

Many pilots, ‘Sully’ included, might advise against a career in flying, after the recent troubles, pay cuts and pension losses. But I say, if you can live with the salaries listed at www.airlinepilotcentral.com, then go against the flow. It might pay off for you.

John asks:

Hi Kent,

I’m an avid reader of your “Plane Answers” site, and a fairly frequent flyer, and I’ve recently come up with a question:

With the majority of carriers now flying express jets (ERJ/CRJ’s), how is the safety of these smaller planes in comparison to the larger jets? The reason for asking is, on the last 3-4 flights on these small jets, the turbulence is noticeably stronger, and the take off and landing sequence seems much rougher.

Can you offer any insight as to what’s happening here? Are the small jets, usually flown by “company x doing business as continental express (or whomever)” as safe? Are the pilots as well trained (they all look like young kids, as compared to the more experienced looking pilots on the larger aircraft)?

I’ve had a couple of very uncomfortable wind landings recently, and your answers would go a long way toward me regaining my comfort level with flying.

Hi John,

I talked about the typical number of hours pilots at the regional airlines have a few weeks ago. Since regional pilots fly more hours per year, and usually accomplish more takeoff and landings per day, the experience they’ve racked up while flying the smaller jets is impressive.

There was a time when airlines were on a hiring binge, and that led to a lot of younger faces at the major airlines (I was considered young in my seat years ago).

The regional carriers were scrambling to fill the vacancies created by the large vacuum that the major and national airlines created when they hired so many regional airline pilots.

Much of that has changed over the past eight years, and there are now pilots at regional airlines with more flight time than at any other time in history because of the retirement age increase, and a stagnating airline industry, which has led to much lower turnover.

These regional jet pilots undergo the same training their major airline counterparts do, they pass the same medical requirements every 6 months to a year and the captains have regular line checks just as we do.

The airplanes they fly lack the long, flexible wings that improve the turbulence characteristics, and their landing gears are incredibly stiff, making it very difficult to accomplish the silky smooth landings widebody aircraft are known for.

But these are the same type of airplanes that have been flying corporate CEOs all over the country for many years prior to the regional jet boom, so they certainly have a proven track record, and their safety record is one of the best among any category of aircraft.

Personally, I have a lot of confidence in the abilities of regional pilots and their jets. Hopefully this will help you enjoy the ride. If you have to, just close your eyes a bit and imagine you’re on your own corporate jet.

Do you have a question about something related to the pointy end of an airplane? Ask Kent and maybe he’ll use it for next Monday’s Plane Answers. Check out his other blog, Cockpit Chronicles and travel along with him at work.

Plane Answers: Sleeping gas to thwart terrorists, longer winter takeoffs and which aircraft is the smoothest in rough air

by Kent Wien on

Welcome to Gadling’s feature, Plane Answers, where our resident airline pilot, Kent Wien, answers your questions about everything from takeoff to touchdown and beyond. Have a question of your own? Ask away!

Jack asks:

I was wondering why the airlines don’t put sleeping gas on a plane for highjackers. This way when the plane is highjacked the pilot puts on an air mask and gases the rest of the plane, calls for help and lands the plane, arrest & shoot the highjackers, well at least arrest them. Nobody gets hurt and we won’t need all the security people.

Jack, if you only knew how many times the O2 masks have been dropped by a pilot inadvertently flipping the wrong switch during a preflight, you might think twice about this ‘feature.’ Not to mention the chance for leaks or having the system used against us in an attack.

Nope, I would prefer to have passengers available to assist in the case of any terrorist action.

TC asks:

I live in South Florida and drive by FLL (Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International) every morning and evening in transit to work. We recently had a few days of real cold temperatures and I noticed the planes taking off are lower over the interstate and seem to be on the runway longer. How does the effect of temperature and humidity relate to take-offs and landings?

Actually, it’s the opposite, TC. During the colder days, both piston and jet aircraft perform better in the colder weather. On hot weather days the engines produce slightly less power and the density altitude is higher resulting in a little less performance.

In an indirect way, the winter season may have been the cause of the longer takeoff distances. I suspect those flights were completely full of people and bags after escaping from the dreadfully long winter we’ve had here in the northeast!

Andrew asks:

On what type of medium to large jets do you feel the least turbulence, e.g., Airbus 320, Boing 737-400, Boing 737-500, etc.?

Certainly the larger aircraft are smoother in turbulence, usually. The 777 has a ‘gust suppression’ technology that helps with side to side turbulence, and the new 787 will have a system that’s designed to mitigate the effects of both horizontal and vertical turbulence.

More important than the type of aircraft is where on that aircraft you sit. The front-to-middle section is always a smoother ride. We’ve had flight attendants injured in the aft galley while the flight attendants were still able to serve meals in the front of the airplane. So try for row 17 and forward if you can on your next domestic flight. You might notice a difference.

Do you have a question about something related to the pointy end of an airplane? Ask Kent and maybe he’ll use it for next Monday’s Plane Answers. Check out his other blog, Cockpit Chronicles and travel along with him at work.

Plane Answers: How a pilot’s flight time relates to their experience

by Kent Wien on

Welcome to Gadling’s feature, Plane Answers, where our resident airline pilot, Kent Wien, answers your questions about everything from takeoff to touchdown and beyond. Have a question of your own? Ask away!

Ted asks:

Due to the latest streak of incidents and accidents I have seen the pilot’s experience written down in flight hours – the captain on the Turkish plane that crashed at Amsterdam had ~15,000 hrs experience, Capt. Sullenberger almost 20,000 hrs and his first officer 15,000+ hrs while the first officer on the ill-fated Colgan Air flight 3407 only had 774 flight hours experience.

However, I would like to know how this translates into years of experience; how many flight hours does a pilot accumulate in an average year; what are the differences between a long-haul pilot (747,767,777 etc), a pilot that flies shorter flights (737/A320) and a pilot for a regional airline.

If possible, I’d like to find out how a pilot’s career looks in flight hours; from moment 0 when he/she takes the first flight lesson, to the PPL and so on all the way to a Senior Flight Captain with the hours attained at the most important milestones. (I know these vary greatly from case to case, but how would it look like on a more or less approximated average?)

Oh, and one more thing: are the flight hours calculated from take-off to touch-down or do they count ground time as well?

Hi Ted,

That’s a great question.

As you mentioned, the milestones in one pilot’s career can vary wildly from another pilot’s. But I could probably give you a general range.
The researcher Anders Ericsson claims that to be an expert in any field or subject takes 10,000 hours of practice – a milestone in flying I’ve only recently reached.

Here’s a breakdown of the typical flight times for various pilots.

Student pilot

A student pilot can solo whenever an instructor is comfortable signing them off. That can be anywhere between six and twenty hours, typically.

Private Pilot

The private pilot license takes at least 40 hours to accomplish, but most finish it after 60 or 70 hours. That license allows a pilot to carry passengers with them, but not for hire.

Commercial, mult-engine and instrument rated pilot, with instructor ratings

After about 250 hours, a pilot can work toward their advanced ratings which are a requirement to flight instruct or to fly for hire.

Regional Co-pilot

Regional airlines that hire pilots for twin-engine turboprops and RJs (regional jets) typically hire pilots into the co-pilot seat with between 500 to 1,500 hours. After some time in the right seat-as little as six months and as many as ten years-the co-pilot would upgrade to the captain position.

Regional Captain

To be a captain at a regional airline, you would have to have an ATP or Air Transport Pilot license. This license requires at least 1,500 hours, along with a significant amount of cross-country and night flying time. So the typical regional captain could have between 1,500 hours and 30,000 hours.

The large spread in flight time is because some pilots end up at the regional carrier during a time of limited hiring by major airlines. After flying for ten or so years at the regional, it becomes a difficult decision to leave the company to fly for less money initially at a major airline. So many of those captains elect to stay put until they retire at the age of 65.

Regional pilots fly close to the FAA maximum allowable 1,000 hours a year.

National and major airline Co-pilots

The usual new-hire at a national or major airline has between 1,500 hours and 10,000 hours, typically. Military pilots generally don’t accrue the large number of hours in a short amount of time like regional pilots, so they tend to have between 1,500 and 3,000 hours when hired. Civilian pilots often have at least 2,500 hours, and more commonly now, 5,000 hours before landing a job at the majors.

The holy grail. Captain!

Captains at the major and national carriers usually have at least two to 15 years with the airline before upgrading. Since we’ve had an unusually stagnant decade of growth among the legacy airlines, many have between fifteen and twenty years with a company before moving to the right seat. In fact, I just had my sixteen-year anniversary and I’m still firmly planted in the right seat with no real outlook for an upgrade anytime soon. I’m sure once the retirements and growth pick up, that will change quickly.

National and Major airline pilots fly between 600 and 1,000 hours per year.

Notice I didn’t separate the wide-body, long-haul pilots from the narrow-body domestic pilots with regard to experience, since there’s relatively little flight time differences. Some pilots prefer the international flying and some would rather fly within the U.S., or their carrier is domestic only, so the flight time is relatively similar between those groups.

In the airline world, flight time is measured from the time the aircraft pushes back to the time it pulls up to the gate at the destination. Military pilots often only log the time flown in the air, without the taxi flight time included, so that can also account for the lower numbers among those pilots.

But flight time really isn’t the only way to get a feel for a pilot’s experience. Airlines look at a pilots currency, or how much they’ve flown in the past year, the amount of flight time they have in a particular type of aircraft and what type of flying they’ve been doing. A domestic pilot will accomplish a lot of takeoff and landings and gain valuable experience quicker than, say, a long-haul 747 pilot flying as one of the three or four pilots on the airplane.

And it’s also important to keep in mind that we’re all human. All pilots have to fight off complacency, as even 500-hour pilots can start to feel they’ve got this flying thing figured out.

The Turkish pilot with 15,000 hours may have been complacent or lacked currency. The facts on that accident are coming out and it’s looking like an automation failure wasn’t picked up by the pilots while on approach resulting in a loss of airspeed. Proof positive that even a 15,000 hour pilot (equivalent to nearly two straight years in the air) can be caught off guard at times.

So flight time isn’t the definitive tool used to judge a pilot’s experience level. It’s just the most often used.

Do you have a question about something related to the pointy end of an airplane? Ask Kent and maybe he’ll use it for next Monda
y’s Plane Answers. Check out his other blog, Cockpit Chronicles and travel along with him at work.

Plane Answers: Step climbs, ferry flights and US Airways milking the publicity

by Kent Wien on

Welcome to Gadling’s feature, Plane Answers, where our resident airline pilot, Kent Wien, answers your questions about everything from takeoff to touchdown and beyond. Have a question of your own? Ask away!

Sam asks:

I just “discovered” your Q&A’s section and I wanted to thank you for all the useful information. I had a question I wanted to ask you as well.

Often at at the end of a flight I hear the engines surge and feel mildly pressed into my seat, similar to the sensation of the sudden acceleration of takeoff. Why do the planes accelerate at this time and if they can be flying faster safely, why not do so the entire flight?

P.S. How often can I bother you with questions?

Hi Sam,

Fire away with the questions. I’ll try to answer them here if they’re relevant. We can never have too many!

What you may have experienced was a step-climb. As the airplane burns off fuel, it’s more efficient to fly at a higher altitude. So as the flight progresses pilots may elect to climb, often 2,000 feet at a time, to a higher altitude.

These “step climbs” could happen throughout the flight, with the exception of transatlantic flights which have to wait until they’re across the Atlantic before they can request a climb since ATC can’t see these airplanes via radar.

But there is one other possible explanation.
Since the British Airways 777 accident at London last year, 777 operators with the Rolls-Royce engines have to advance the throttles to maximum thrust for ten seconds before initiating the descent if the fuel temperature is below -10C.

We don’t fly at the maximum cruise power for the duration of the flight, since the added fuel burn would far exceed the benefits of arriving at our destination five minutes earlier.

Very perceptive and keep the questions coming, Sam.

James comments:

I was told by a very reliable source (older brother of a United pilot) that United hired a public relations firm to promote “Sully” and crew. They are determined to get as much mileage from this event as possible.

I think you meant to say that US Airways was trying to get the most publicity from this event as possible. And while that may be true, it hasn’t prevented ‘Sully’ from pointing out that US Airways had used bankruptcy as a “fishing expedition to get what they could not get in normal times,” and noted that his pay had been cut 40 percent in recent years and his pension had been terminated and replaced with a promise “worth pennies on the dollar.”

Certainly he’s avoided the influence of company spokespersons and he’s felt free enough to speak his mind.

I’m currently reading the book It’s not news, it’s Fark, which outlines how companies and organizations try to influence the direction of the news. But it seems in this case, the media demand for interviews has been significant enough that a publicity campaign by the airline wouldn’t be necessary.

Thomas asks:

Hi Kent-

I love reading both of your columns! I miss reading Cockpit Chronicles.

I don’t know if you can answer this question for me or not, but how do plane manufacturers transport new smaller planes (ex: A320, B737) overseas to buyers? Are these planes able to fly across the ocean without any passengers on board?

When I was 15, my sister and I overheard my dad turn down an offer to fly a 737 from Seattle to London. We forced him to call back and take the trip which gave us an opportunity to ride in the cockpit with him, since it was considered a ferry flight. Not to mention the fact that it gave us the opportunity to see London.

Up to that point, we had never been able to ride in the cockpit, of course.

We flew from Seattle with our fuel tanks topped off, to Goose Bay, Canada. We then proceeded all the way to South Hampton, England. Had we been limited in range further, we would have stopped in Gander, Newfoundland, and perhaps Reykjavik, Iceland before flying on to our destination.

This is also how smaller, single-engine Cessnas are flown to and from Europe, but they often carry auxiliary fuel tanks inside the cabin.

I’m very sympathetic to these ferry pilots flying the smaller airplanes. It can’t be a relaxing flight to be down low, in an airplane with just one engine, while trying to avoid icing conditions. Those pilots earn every penny they get.

Todays Boeing and Airbus narrow-body airplanes can travel more than 2,500 nautical miles, so there are more options for them.

Do you have a question about something related to the pointy end of an airplane? Ask Kent and maybe he’ll use it for next Monday’s Plane Answers. Check out his other blog, Cockpit Chronicles and travel along with him at work.