Cockpit Chronicles: Paris – Chez (grand) Papa

by Kent Wien on

Cockpit Chronicles takes you along on each of Kent’s trips as a co-pilot on the Boeing 757 and 767 out of Boston.

“We’ve had a minor explosion back here,” one of the flight attendants, Susan, told us during our preflight.

“There’s orange juice all over 2H and J.”

Selfishly, we all perked up. Those were our crew rest seats. The thought of sitting in a wet seat gave a new urgency to the co-pilot’s voice when calling maintenance to get the cover and cushion replaced.

I was the relief pilot again for this flight. My schedule for June is exclusively for FB trips to Paris, but occasionally I’m able to trade over to the co-pilot seat if it opens up during the month, which leaves my relief pilot position open to someone who’s on reserve or another pilot who’s able to trade into it.
There’s no difference in pay between the relief pilot and the co-pilot positions, but most pilots prefer to fly if they have the chance.

We departed Boston at around 7 p.m., and just ten minutes later I left the cockpit for my crew rest seat, hoping it wasn’t still soaked from the orange juice. Maintenance did replace the cushion and cover of the seat bottom, but the window seat was especially wet on the seat back. So I opted to sit in the aisle seat, where I put a comforter blanket behind my back.

If I’m not tired, I usually try to catch up on a few posts. There’s nothing like flying along in an airplane to put you in the right frame of mind to write about, well, flying in an airplane.

After my two hours were up, I went to the cockpit and the captain went back to our rest seat. Moments later we started to get into a small amount of light ‘chop.’ (Pilot-speak for those little, rhythmic bumps).

Typically it’s up to the captain to turn the seatbelt sign on at this point, but when he’s gone, the other co-pilot and I look at each other with the ‘you think these bumps are going to last?’ look.

“Ding.” I turned the sign on.

Sure enough, it smoothed out almost immediately. I’m starting to wonder if the sign has magical powers.

The flight attendants are required to make a PA, telling the passengers that the captain (who’s now sleeping in row 2…) has turned on the seatbelt sign. If we turn it off two minutes later, we’re sure to hit some bumps requiring the sign again. So we elect to leave it on for a few minutes longer to be sure.

I’m sure my grandpa, an early bush pilot in Alaska, wouldn’t have been annoyed by this minor dilemma. He was more concerned with far more significant issues as he flew passengers year-round in Alaska during the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s.

Ice forming on the fuel vent? Is the radiator leaking again? Does that snow look too deep to land on with these wheels? And most importantly, where can I land if this engine quits?

But we’d be given a challenge of our own from ATC. Shanwick called up using the airplane’s SELCAL system. Controllers have the ability to ring us using a special code on our airplane that sends an alert via HF radio. They usually only call when they need to clarify a position report or to give us a new routing. This time they needed us to slow enough so as to arrive at the next waypoint at or after 0621z.

ATC keeps the airplanes flying at the same altitude and on the same track spaced at least 10 minutes apart which is around 75 miles. So we were likely gaining on someone ahead. I slowed the airplane back to .76 MACH, and the computer figured out our new arrival time at the fix: 0622z.

Perfect. Challenge solved.

We sat back to marvel at the United 777 passing 1000 feet above us on the right, just as the sun was breaking through the horizon in front of us. Contrails were everywhere; most of them drawing a path in the sky that marked where we’d soon be making a right turn.

One of the airplanes 20 miles ahead was 2000 feet above us. The wake of airplanes can cause some bumps, even this far back, since it descends at about 500 feet per minute.

Depending on the winds, you’ll often get these bumps when 12 miles behind an airplane that’s 1000 feet above. Double that number for an airplane that’s 2000 feet above.

To avoid these annoying bumps, we’re allowed to ‘offset’ the airplane either 1NM or 2NM’s to the right. We put in a mile and slid over to the side, avoiding the bumps that were easy to see from the contrails.

Yet another problem solved. Grandpa would be proud.

Truthfully, there are so many other issues that make flying complicated today. I suppose my grandpa might be overwhelmed with many of the legalities, the procedures and the aircraft systems. After one look, he might even prefer to go back to his Tri-Motor Ford. I wouldn’t blame him. But I’m sure glad I don’t have to scrape ice from the wings of the airplane in the morning anymore.

We often chat in the cockpit at altitude about families, previous trips or activities outside work. But a very popular topic of conversation lately has been the state of the industry.

Just like most of the airlines, we’ve announced a reduction of around 10% in our flying for the fall schedule. This has a trickle down effect among the pilot group. Some captains will be bumped to a smaller airplane, or even back to co-pilot, which results in co-pilots either becoming more junior on their same airplane or bumped back to a domestic 737 or maybe even furloughed.

I was furloughed from 1993 to 1996, so I hope to never have to see that again. But we still have pilots on furlough from our 2001 reduction. Some of those were recently called back and I would hate to see them furloughed again. The only thing worse than getting furloughed is getting furloughed twice.

My dad always encouraged my brother and I to think about having a back-up plan in case the flying thing didn’t work out.

“It’s just such an unstable career,” he said in 1983.

How right he was. But I always knew it was the only job for me. Especially after studying accounting and management in college.

We landed in Paris and after the last passenger deplaned, we went down to the bus parked just in front of the nose of the 767. This isn’t usually the case, but in Paris we’re fortunate to jump on the crew bus right at the airplane that takes the twelve of us into the city.

The ride can best be described as excruciating. On the weekdays it’s stop and go, with jolts and surges lasting an hour and forty-five minutes typically. Some people try to sleep, others talk or listen to an iPod. I’ve actually managed to sleep a bit on these rides, but it’s not very easy to get comfortable.

Again we waited a few minutes in the lobby for our room keys. This is always a good time to co-ordinate the days activities. I had mentioned that I wanted to check out the Catacombs of Paris, which is near our hotel. Both pilots were interested, so we planned to meet up at 3 o’clock after a good sleep.

The Catacombs are a series of skull and bone filled tunnels that traverse everywhere under the streets of Paris. Apparently they were running short on land and the only solution was to relocate the grave sites into these tunnels. Obviously, this occurred long before Drew Barrymoore showed us in Poltergeist what a bad idea this was.

I was exci
ted to go down to the Catacombs, since I had read some of your comments suggesting a visit. I studied up, I knew to bring a flashlight, to dress appropriately and I even downloaded a couple of maps.

But there was one thing that I didn’t read up on; they close at 4 p.m.

We arrived a few minutes before 4 and stood in line, hoping they would let those already in line down below. Just as the line moved to the entrance, they cut us off. We’d have to come back another time. At least while waiting in line, I discovered one of the most beautiful statues in Paris:

Wifi available! Yep, this meant I could check my email on the iPhone while standing in line. I have an account with Boingo, a roaming service that allows you to bypass a lot of the fees charged at hotels and airports. Unfortunately, some of the locations are premium, which means you’ll pay about $10 an hour to use them. It turns out the parks in Paris are all in the premium category, but the hotel where we stay isn’t. Apparently, if I elected to go from the $22 a month plan to the $39 plan, there wouldn’t be any premium fees.

Since it was early still, we all split up. Jim the co-pilot worked out, Phil the captain borrowed another captain’s bike that’s parked nearby and went for a ride. One of our captains brought a bike over from the states piece by piece and built up a ten speed bike that no one would ever consider stealing. Of course that was his plan all along. He’s very generous in sharing the bike’s combination lock with the other crew members.

Of course, I’m so far behind blogging these trips, I needed to get some work done back at the hotel. We had previously arranged to meet with one of our flight attendants and two other captains from Miami and New York for dinner a few hours later.

Back at the hotel, I ran into Frenchy, one of my favorite flight attendants who’s now flying out of Miami. He’s recommended some great restaurants for the crew in the past and I wanted to pick his brain again for suggestions for our dinner tonight. He told me about a restaurant located on the grounds of a park near our hotel.

“What kind of price are we talking about?” I asked him, knowing that he generally had good taste in dining (i.e. expensive).

“Twenty to forty Euro.” He said.

Perfect, I thought. I had done a bit of ‘fine dining’ for the last two trips and it’d be nice to eat on a terrace near a park without having to take out a second mortgage on the house.

The six of us met up at the hotel and I told them of my new discovery. Everyone thought this sounded like as good a place as any, so we walked about 20 minutes to the Montsouris park.

As we approached the restaurant, Susan said, “It’s like Tavern on the Green!”

“Yeah, but without the price to go along with it.” I confidently remarked.

At 7 p.m. the place was empty, since most Parisians dine rather late. We managed to get a table without having reservations, but when we sat down and took a look at the menu, the table got a bit quiet.

The prix fix menu price was €52.

“I can’t do this.” One of the pilots said.

Since that worked out to $85 not including any drinks, and both Susan and I had spent a fair amount on dinner during the Les Papilles birthday celebration for Stephanie a few trips earlier, we decided it might be best to go somewhere else.

Jim and Phil wanted to try Chez Papa, a nearby restaurant that’s becoming popular with crews. I was happy to go along in an effort to save some money. I’m starting to realize that I need to alternate between a nice dinner and something more reasonable if I’m going to fly this trip exclusively this summer.

Susan and the two other pilots wanted to trek into the Latin quarter to find something more in between, price-wise, which I completely understood.

Chez Papa turned out to be a great choice. The choices were a bit random, with lots of Duck and Lamb offered in a variety of stews, but I opted for a potato omelette. And for a nice change of pace, this dinner ran at just €11 with a drink.


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The flight home was completely uneventful. I tried to snap a shot of Paris from the air. Unfortunately, we were climbing through 11,000 feet, so the view isn’t the best.


Phil and Jim starting to descend for the arrival into Boston.

With two Paris trips down and one to go in my 9-day in a row marathon, I still felt pretty good.

Little did I know, the next trip would prove to be a bit more troublesome…

Cockpit Chronicles takes you along on each of Kent’s trips as a co-pilot on the Boeing 757 and 767 out of Boston. For the months of May through July, he’ll focus on Paris almost exclusively. If you have any good suggestions for Parisian activities, feel free to leave your tips in the comments.

Plane Answers: Overcoming the fear of flying

by Kent Wien on

This week we’ve had many questions that all ran along the same lines; how to overcome Aviophobia, or the fear of flying. Most people who suffer from this fear are well aware of the statistics that show that air travel is the safest form of travel, and no amount of assurances and facts are able to calm their fears. But I’ve been told that understanding more about what happens in an airplane does go a long way towards quelling some of the anxiety associated with flying.

Jenna asks:

My stepmother refuses to fly. Her explanation for this is one time when she was in a plane, it dropped 10,000 feet. The other day, I was talking to my friend Nora, who said her mother had a similar story. How often does this happen and what causes a plane to lose control for so long? I am also afraid of flying, so I would love to know. Thank you for your time!

Thanks Jenna. You can assure your stepmother that planes don’t just drop. It’s analogous to driving in your car and suddenly finding yourself on an interstate two miles away. The media and so many movies have reinforced this idea that airplanes can hit ‘air pockets’ and drop hundreds or thousands of feet.

As I mentioned in a previous Plane Answers post about turbulence, even during some of the roughest air, we don’t gain or lose altitude generally.

There are some astute readers who will point out that there have been occasions that airplanes flying near their maximum capable altitude needed to descend rapidly to regain airspeed, but even in these instances the airplane hasn’t lost control.
Lisa emails:

This question is more to answer something that concerns my husband more than myself. His biggest fear of flying is that during take off the tail end is going to hit the runway. He does not understand what prevents that from happening. Could you explain. I would really like to go to Vegas but cannot get him on a plane because of this unanswered question.

It’s very rare for the tail of an aircraft to come into contact with the ground, though there are some jets that are slightly more prone to it. Those airplanes are equipped with a tail skid to absorb the contact with the ground. Concorde even had a little wheel back there. Here’s what that tail skid looks like on the Boeing 767-300:

On the 767-300 the tailskid extends for takeoff and landing and retracts during flight. It’s activation is tied to the landing gear lever.

We’re trained in techniques to maintain a good clearance between that tail skid and the ground. We have a load planner who figures out the proper airspeed to begin the liftoff, and we’re careful not to allow the airplane to ‘rotate’ or leap into the air too quickly. The Boeing 777 even has two design features that help prevent tail strikes. One is a limiting device that makes it more difficult for a pilot to pull back on the yoke too aggressively during takeoff and the other is a design change in the landing gear that prevents the tail from coming too close to the ground. The other airplanes rely on good training, and this seems to be effective.

I would estimate that there are just a handful of tail strikes nationwide every year. And when they do occur the flight will usually come back in to land at the departure airport to complete an inspection.

Part of our preflight inspection requires that we check the skid for any paint removed from the flat bottom portion, which would indicate a scraped skid. A scraped tail skid or contact with the lower aft fuselage on airplanes without a skid won’t directly cause an accident, so your husband is better off worrying about his odds in Vegas than the odds of a tail strike on the flight there.

And Melissa asks:

I’m taking a trip with my son who is six. This will be his first time ever flying and I’m wondering how I should explain the turbulence and even the take off and landing. Of course I will be talking him through it all, but I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas on how to prepare him for this without scaring him.

The fear of flying seems to get passed on from parents to their kids. Hopefully if your son sees that you’re looking forward to the trip and that you find it fun to fly, he’ll be equally excited. I have a six year-old daughter who enjoys flying, although she’s been traveling every year or so since she was born.

If turbulence occurs, explain to him that just as cars occasionally hit bumps on the road, the air outside the aircraft can be bumpy at times. It usually doesn’t last too long though. As for the takeoff and landing, sell it to him like a ride at Disneyland. It can be fun when you look at it that way. You might also want to talk him through some of the sounds. If you’re able to hear it, let him know when the landing gear comes down. After touchdown, explain that the engines will get louder as they are put into ‘reverse-thrust’ to help slow the airplane down.

Which brings me to Bryan’s question:

What can I do to overcome my fear of flying?

In the past airlines offered ‘fear of flying’ courses. Today that has given way to companies that specialize in this training. I’ve found a few resources that might be helpful.

There are a number of online sources such as Fear of Flying Help and Five tips for fearful flyers that offer some suggestions, and there are a number of courses offered such as The Fear of Flying Clinic and SOAR.

I don’t have any first hand information about these sites but maybe a reader has had some success with one of them, or another program. Let us know in the comments.

If there were a way for passengers to see out the front of the airplane, maybe they’d feel more secure about the flight. Imagine how scary it’d be to ride in a car that only has a view out a small window to the side. Some people feel the need to be in control, and without a clear view ahead, flying might be nerve racking for them.

My only other advice is to visit the cockpit before departure. If the pilots aren’t too busy, I’m sure they’d be happy to allow you to visit the cockpit. For some passengers it’s helpful to know that the people in the front of the airplane, who probably have families at home, are just as interested in a safe flight as you are.

Based on the number of questions I’ve received about this topic, I’m sure there are a large number of people who are anxious flyers or unwilling to fly all together. Who knows, maybe reading the Cockpit Chronicles will give some people a better understanding for just what goes on during a typical flight
from the pilot’s perspective.

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 Friday’s Plane Answers feature.

Plane Answers: When are pilots afraid of turbulence?

by Kent Wien on

Welcome to 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!

Kyle writes:

First of all, thanks for taking the time to respond to people’s questions. There’s something I’ve always wanted to know. Do pilots ever get scared of turbulence? If so, what makes them bad enough to actually be scary. Is there a way a passenger can know when to be concerned and when it’s just normal bumps and shakes?

Thanks, Kyle.

Turbulence is more annoying than frightening, usually. But I think it’s more upsetting for passengers than some pilots realize.

I learned a good lesson when flying as a passenger some years ago. I was sitting next to a really nice lady who had previously worked as an agent for another airline. She had obviously flown a great deal, but she startled me when she grabbed my arm as soon as the airplane hit the slightest bit of light chop (pilot-speak for small rhythmic bumps). She said to me, “If the pilots would just ACKNOWLEDGE this turbulence–if they would just say something, I’d feel so much better.”

That moment stuck with me. As a co-pilot, it’s not really my place to make reassuring PAs–that’s up to the captain–but I will do my best when I move to the left seat.

Turbulence becomes worrisome to a pilot when it could cause harm to our flight attendants or passengers who aren’t buckled in. That’s our biggest concern. I’m very confident that the airplane will hold up to the roughest of air, but we just don’t want anyone to get hurt. Take a look at this Boeing video showing the maximum inflight load the 777 will take before failing. The wing finally failed at 154% of the maximum rated load. The video that follows after the jump has to give you confidence in today’s airliners.

Often though, pilots might not realize just how bad it is for the flight attendants in the back. When flying on the longer airliners, the ride in the cockpit can feel like light chop, while conditions in the aft galley make it impossible to stand up. The next time you fly, see if you can tell the difference with the flight attendants working in first class versus those in the back during a bumpy period.

Moderate turbulence is strong enough to move things around in the cabin. As a test, you can set a cup or glass on your table. If it gets knocked off–and not just small sliding movements that take it over the edge–then you are likely experiencing moderate turbulence. You’d feel a definite strain against your seat belt. If we encounter this kind of ride, be assured that we’re talking to air traffic control or other airplanes to try and find a smoother altitude. This would be a good time to mention how important it is to wear your seatbelt when seated.

Pilots don’t like these bumps any more than passengers do, but they’re generally not something that cause us to be frightened. That said, we always have a healthy appreciation for the turbulence that thunderstorms are capable of, so we strive to avoid them by at least 20 miles. Fortunately, these cumulonimbus clouds are relatively easy to spot on our weather radar. But don’t be too concerned about flying into the puffy cumulous clouds that have little vertical development. These clouds don’t show up on our radar and pose little problems other than light chop or turbulence.

We also rely on pilot reports from other aircraft in the area to keep us away from any clear air turbulence. Over the North Atlantic, we monitor a pilot-to-pilot frequency that allows us to give some warning to flights behind us when we enter areas of unforecasted turbulence. When flying in the domestic U.S. we rely on Air Traffic Control to let us know where the smoothest rides may be.

Have you ever been curious about what goes on at the pointy end of an airplane? Ask Kent and maybe he’ll use your question for next Friday’s Plane Answers feature.

Severe turbulence causes emergency landing in Calgary

by Martha Edwards on

Several passengers have been taken to hospital in Calgary, Alberta this morning after an Air Canada Airbus A319 had to make an emergency landing, according to reports. The cause appears to be severe turbulence, which led to passengers and loose items being thrown around the cabin. Luckily, no one is severely injured.

According to one passenger’s account: “It happened very fast. One side of the plane just went up a little bit sideways and then just went back down. Our friend was really hurt. … She flew up and hit the ceiling and went back down.”

With a dad who’s a pilot, I certainly know the meaning of bad turbulence — but it’s pretty rare that turbulence is so severe it causes an emergency landing. Scary.

Smoother Ride On Planes Of The Future

by Jonathon Morgan on

A new turbulence detection system is being developed that may help pilots avoid weather disturbances. According a National Geographic News report, this NASA initiative could “prevent injuries and save airlines millions of dollars.”

There’s two systems in the works — the first of which is a modified version of the radar pilot’s currently use, called E-Turb. This informs pilots of potential sources of turbulence, making them easier to avoid. The second is used when a plane has already encountered turbulence — creating instant reports which allow ground crews to spot any maintenance issues, while also alerting nearby aircraft to the disturbance.

These new technologies could give pilots an additional several minutes of warning before they hit severe weather — time which, according to NASA engineer Jim Watson, is “enough time to get everybody seated and carts stowed if you’re in the meal phase of the flight.”