Last of the dinosaurs?

[Quimby]

I do that almost every trip, just because I like to fly the plane.

What's really interesting is to have someone do this for the entire arrival. Climbout is pretty easy to do that. The arrival and manually computing descent points, crossing restrictions, etc without auto-throttles and the flight director is what would bite someone who has lost some hand-flying skills.

Flew with a guy last year that freaked when the A/T were deferred, wanted me to fly the whole day. Really? And you're the Captain? WTF? I'm sure most of our guys would be fine, but seriously?

We also have a procedure in and out of SNA that if the A/T are deferred, you have to call Dispatch to get a briefing. They know how to use our Autothrottles? And why does that necessitate a briefing? Pretty dang simple, set Takeoff N1 manually, at 600 feet lower the nose and reduce to cut-back N1, at 3,000 feet, manually set climb power, clean up, and motor on. What's the BFD?

Oh well, I just fly 'em.

If someone sitting in a cube decides it's a BFD, then it's a BFD!

 

[Lear70]

If someone sitting in a cube decides it's a BFD, then it's a BFD!

Of course.

What was I thinking...

 

[Ty Webb]

Pretty dang simple, set Takeoff N1 manually, at 600 feet lower the nose and reduce to cut-back N1, at 3,000 feet, manually set climb power, clean up, and motor on. What's the BFD?

Oh well, I just fly 'em.

I like the old school way better . . . . . Climb hard, leave your noise on the airport, then reduce power to maintain a 500'/min climb until 3000' AGL. Works great, lasts a long time.

 

[vetrider]

Lear you make good points, and I agree. You should have written the article, it would have been a whole lot better.

 

[Flyer1015]

To sum it up:

There is no substitute for experience.

The modern era of automation and emphasis on turning the autopilot on as soon as possible in training is creating a whole generation of automation-dependent pilots.

The level of safety from modern aircraft design and building things to the "lowest common denominator" has brought the safest time period in aviation history, making the above two issues less and less important.

Until someone burns in a perfectly good airplane again (Colgan BUF crash).

Old article and poorly-written, but the truth is if I had to choose between a puppy mill "child of the magenta" or someone who came up flying Lears and DC9's or 727's up in YIP at the controls when the crap hits the fan, I'll choose option B every time.

No one wants to stay in YIP, but they turn out some of the best civilian aviators in existence, just because of the equipment and missions they're forced to fly. Hoping the new regs for the ATP requirement force the industry back to that model.

If YIP was a base for my airline, I'd be the first to bid there!

 

[Lear70]

If YIP was a base for my airline, I'd be the first to bid there!

I was referring more to the quality of life (pay, schedules) of the ad-hoc freight operators up there than anything else, but I think you knew that.

 

[pilotyip]

If YIP was a base for my airline, I'd be the first to bid there!

QOL is in the eye of the beholder. I don't there are any pilots flying 121 who spend more time at home than YIP based guys who lives local. Maybe 4 nights a month in a hotel away from home on an average for the on-demand cargo pilots. The pax guys spend a lot more time on the road, but they like knowing what they are going to a day in advance as opposed to 30 minutes in advance.

 

[Lear70]

QOL is in the eye of the beholder. I don't there are any pilots flying 121 who spend more time at home than YIP based guys who lives local. Maybe 4 nights a month in a hotel away from home on an average for the on-demand cargo pilots. The pax guys spend a lot more time on the road, but they like knowing what they are going to a day in advance as opposed to 30 minutes in advance.

Total days off per month might be a little important as well, not to mention pay.

20 days off a month plus weekends and holidays, 3 wks pd vacation, and 6 figures as an F/O doesn't happen at a YIP freight carrier.

 

[Flyer1015]

QOL is in the eye of the beholder. I don't there are any pilots flying 121 who spend more time at home than YIP based guys who lives local. Maybe 4 nights a month in a hotel away from home on an average for the on-demand cargo pilots. The pax guys spend a lot more time on the road, but they like knowing what they are going to a day in advance as opposed to 30 minutes in advance.

Had I not been hired at my present company, I would have definitely sent a resume your way.

 

[SWA Bubba]

...

We also have a procedure in and out of SNA that if the A/T are deferred, you have to call Dispatch to get a briefing. They know how to use our Autothrottles? And why does that necessitate a briefing? Pretty dang simple, set Takeoff N1 manually, at 600 feet lower the nose and reduce to cut-back N1, at 3,000 feet, manually set climb power, clean up, and motor on. What's the BFD?

Oh well, I just fly 'em.

That's interesting. On this side of the fence, it's only been recently that they've altered the SNA procedures to even allow using A/Ts for the noise abatement takeoff. We used to be required to do it A/T off, and a lot of folks (me included) still do it that way.

I guess it's one of the mysteries of aviation: "you guys aren't good enough to do it this way, but you guys over here aren't good enough to do it any way EXCEPT this way..."

Bubba