OT Flying an A320 :)

Hi guys,

A couple of days ago, I had this fantastic opportunity of flying in
the cockpit, from start to finish, on a 3-hour flight from Almaty to
Atyrau in Kazakhstan in an A320 that our Company had chartered. I was
in the jump seat between the captain and FO. There was a crew of 6 and
there were 6 passengers in a 150-capacity aircraft

There were two very friendly Canadian pilots who didn't think much of
answering my Qs - and there were a few Qs

Apart from learning quite a bit, I also unlearned the following:

a. There's a stick to pilot the aircraft and not a U-shaped control
column.
b. Cockpits don't contain a drove of dials and needles, but are
completely digital.
c. Planes aren't turned during taxiing using the rudder but have a
lovely little device that controls the nosewheel.
d. Brakes aren't manually applied upon landing but are preset.
e. Pilots pay a lot more than passing attention to wake vortices.
Indeed, the captain waited for almost five minutes on the runway
before deciding to takeoff since a huge Russian cargo plane took off
prior to our departure.

Being the friendly chaps, the pilots allowed me to disengage the
autopilot and bank the aircraft as much as I liked during cruise and I
think I did a decent job of maintaining the correct heading because
upon re-engagement of the autopilot, the correction it had to do was
almost imperceptible. The captain also let me throw open the throttle
for takeoff, although his hand was snug above mine

The weather was quite rough at the end of the ride, with very low
visibility, making the landing thrilling.

For all the unbelievable sensation, I must confess that the experience
left me feeling that piloting is a mite too staid and has this
ineffable remoteness to it. I really hadn't known that planes have
this degree of automation... I mean, the things can nigh fly
themselves. Not sure now I want that; I'd reckoned flying to be a lot
more raw, honestly. There wasn't one moment where I experienced the
raw feeling one gets while driving a car or motorcycle. And I wasn't
even on some small, unsophisticated airplane. I know you'll be gasping
at how silly I could be for saying this but that's what I felt anyways
:\

Ramapriya

On 25 Nov 2004 04:28:47 -0800, (Ramapriya) wrote in
: :

e. Pilots pay a lot more than passing attention to wake vortices.
Indeed, the captain waited for almost five minutes on the runway
before deciding to takeoff since a huge Russian cargo plane took off
prior to our departure.

Given the facts, that wingtip vortices begin at the point the aircraft
leaves the ground, and the heavy Russian freighter had rotated far
down the runway because of its weight, and your lightly loaded
aircraft could have easily left the ground substantially before the
point where the freighter had, why couldn't your PIC have departed
whenever he wished? Was he concerned that the prevailing crosswind
component might blow a vortex back on the runway? Parallel runways?

"Ramapriya" wrote

For all the unbelievable sensation, I must confess that the experience
left me feeling that piloting is a mite too staid and has this
ineffable remoteness to it. I really hadn't known that planes have
this degree of automation... I mean, the things can nigh fly themselves.

Small planes do not fly themselves. YOU do the takeoff and YOU do the
landing, and all the flying inbetween. In exception to what I just said,
some high-end single engine planes do have autopilots that will fly the
plane to a certain course and altitude, and will also turn to a new course
that you have progamed into it. Very expensive to get those features in GA
(general aviation.)


There wasn't one moment where I experienced the
raw feeling one gets while driving a car or motorcycle. And I wasn't
even on some small, unsophisticated airplane. I know you'll be gasping
at how silly I could be for saying this but that's what I felt anyways
:\

Ramapriya


The only thing that might be silly is you thinking that it would be a raw
feeling to fly a transport aircraft. Lots of people call large aircraft
pilots "bus drivers", because that is about what they do. Calm, reliable,
comfortable transportation is what people expect when the fly commercial,
and usually they get it.

When you learn to fly, after a number of hours, you may become skilled
enough to fly some high performance airplanes, many of them being home
built, that can do steep banking, rolls, loops, and other exciting maneuvers
that will make riding a motorcycle feel tame.
--
Jim in NC


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"Morgans" wrote in message ...

The only thing that might be silly is you thinking that it would be a raw
feeling to fly a transport aircraft. Lots of people call large aircraft
pilots "bus drivers", because that is about what they do. Calm, reliable,
comfortable transportation is what people expect when the fly commercial,
and usually they get it.

When you learn to fly, after a number of hours, you may become skilled
enough to fly some high performance airplanes, many of them being home
built, that can do steep banking, rolls, loops, and other exciting maneuvers
that will make riding a motorcycle feel tame.

My motorcycle rides, and the lack of that kinda thrill, was *exactly*
what I was thinking when I wrote what I did. But I have hope now,
reading what you wrote

Ramapriya


PS: Noticed the terrorist thing started in this thread again? :\

"Morgans" wrote in message ...
built, that can do steep banking, rolls, loops, and other exciting maneuvers
that will make riding a motorcycle feel tame.

By the way, I also got confirmation on what I'd for long suspected to
be unnecessary - the warning to switch off mobile phones on the
aircraft. I asked how phones, which use a completely different set of
frequencies to operate in, could interfere with air traffic
communication. And the pilots did admit that it was just something
that international regulations required and that there isn't much to
evidence interference, unless satellite phones are used.

And it was only when I went looking for a gage with a ball and saw
none that I learnt (from the captain) that, "Every turn on an aircraft
is a coordinated turn". Wonder why John Denker has written a piece on
coordinated turns at all...

Ramapriya

Ramapriya wrote:

By the way, I also got confirmation on what I'd for long suspected to
be unnecessary - the warning to switch off mobile phones on the
aircraft. I asked how phones, which use a completely different set of
frequencies to operate in, could interfere with air traffic
communication. And the pilots did admit that it was just something
that international regulations required and that there isn't much to
evidence interference, unless satellite phones are used.

You got that backwards: Every high frequency electronic device emits
radiation and therefore can, theoretically, interfere. So the question
is not whether there is evidence that it does interfere, but whether
there is proof that it does not.

And it was only when I went looking for a gage with a ball and saw
none that I learnt (from the captain) that, "Every turn on an aircraft
is a coordinated turn". Wonder why John Denker has written a piece on
coordinated turns at all...

Certainly true for the airbus: You fly it with the joy stick, and the
computer takes care of coordination.

Stefan

(Ramapriya) wrote

And it was only when I went looking for a gage with a ball and saw
none that I learnt (from the captain) that, "Every turn on an aircraft
is a coordinated turn". Wonder why John Denker has written a piece on
coordinated turns at all...

I'm sure that he meant to say "in that aircraft" and not aircraft
in general.

Most, if not all large swept wing aircraft incorporate a "yaw damper"
to prevent an aerodynamic phenomenon called "dutch roll", a see-sawing
back-and-forth of the nose of the aircraft. The yaw damper controls
the rudder independantly of the pilot using gyros and hydraulic controls.
Because it dampens the dutch roll yaw, it also keeps yaw near zero at
all other times....and the ball stays in the middle even in turns.

Not so fortunate in propeller driven general aviation aircraft...
in turns, the pilot must use the rudder controls to keep the a/c
from yawing.

Bob Moore CFI
ATP B-707 B-727
PanAm (retired)

Bob Moore wrote in message .121...

Not so fortunate in propeller driven general aviation aircraft...
in turns, the pilot must use the rudder controls to keep the a/c
from yawing.

Bob Moore CFI
ATP B-707 B-727
PanAm (retired)

Bob, since you're an experienced pilot, can you explain (preferably
with an example) what exactly are the various elements of a flight
plan? Of the stuff I got to see and learn on that flying trip, the
flight plan was the one thing that was just not intuitive at all, and
appeared awfully complex to comprehend. Not wanting to lose out
precious time on one particular aspect, I left it at that.

Also, it totally escaped my attention to ask the pilots what exactly
is vertical damping. John Denker's otherwise excellent material didn't
do much to explain vertical damping easily enough...

Thanks in advance,

Ramapriya

(Ramapriya) wrote

Bob, since you're an experienced pilot, can you explain (preferably
with an example) what exactly are the various elements of a flight
plan? Of the stuff I got to see and learn on that flying trip, the
flight plan was the one thing that was just not intuitive at all, and
appeared awfully complex to comprehend.

But not so experienced as a typist....:-) It would take me
a week to type it out.

I will try to find you a web site for the answer.

The "flight plan" can mean either of two things. One is the
documentation of the planning that the pilot or flight
dispatcher (or computer) has done to serve as directions for
the flightcrew to follow. Second is a document filed with
Air Traffic Control telling them what you would like to do
and requesting their clearence for that flight.
Pilots tend to call both "the flight plan", but at the old
Pan American Airways, the first was refered to as the
"Flight Plan Analysis" to distinguish it from the ATC FP.

Bob Moore

(Ramapriya) writes:

the pilots allowed me to disengage the
autopilot and bank the aircraft as much as I liked during cruise and I
think I did a decent job of maintaining the correct heading because

Hmmm....another chap with an odd name who is only learning to fly
during the cruise phase...