Aviation MegaThread!!!!

Pilot's View: Airbus A380 approach and landing at San Francisco.

http://www.wimp.com/approachlanding/

probably 205, but...

they just had a reunion for Friendship One in Seattle http://www.747sp.com/friendship-one/

made me think of this cool video with Clay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=L7kKzSqWKt8

That was cool!

Its aviation, and pretty damn cool.

What happens when you wring out a wet washcloth in zero G?

http://io9.com/watch-what-happens-when-you-wring-out-a-washcloth-in-sp-476159356

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Kind of cool But. to be really honest, these guys manage computers. Nothig more. After the performance turned in by the now famous "non-pilots" of the ill fated Air France "swim team", these guys don't impress me, at all.
I was doing some recurrent in a 733 sim is SEA several years back, and witnessed a perfect approach turned in by a 14 year old girl. It's all "follow the magenta line" kids. A big computer game. Nothing more.
Now before I get slagged by all you "But what if something goes wrong" faithful, who really believe that modern airliners require "pilots", I simply use Air France as a rebuttal......"real" pilots can actually FLY!
Put any one of these turkeys in a 185, or a J3 on a gusty day....and they'd be totally fucked!
Put the average "gamer" in a 777.....and they'd be Okay....
Lyle

Yes, that was really cool.

When I was about 10 our school went on a field trip to NASA. While there they had a basic simulator set up for landing the shuttle. Yes, I know it is not too similar to the real thing, but they were trying to demonstrate how hard it is to land a somewhat gliding brick.

I nailed it on the first try

Could I land the real thing? Probably not, but that day the middle school girls thought I was pretty cool

Don't sugar coat it, pal.
Tell us how you really feel!

There are plenty of ways to turn the automation off. Not being being allowed to is the potential problem. Just yesterday I was talking with a friend who's making a career change into professional aviation. (Yes, I've given her the "talk" but she's still determined...so good for her) Anyway, she's got the chance to fly this summer from CA to AK and back with a friend in a 172. I've done two trips down AK- CA with small planes and its great. I told her one trip was in a Aeronca Champ with no electrical. Pre GPS and pre small plane Loran. Just a compass, a watch and some maps. She said she'd never do that! I said really? I told her any old crusty United 747 pilot (where she wants to work) would likely love to fly a old GA plane from Alaska. She flat refused to believe that.

CA to AK in a NORDO J3! Sign me up! That's FLYING!!
I took an Arrow from Toronto to The Bahamas many years ago. Best trip ever! Your friend needs to smell the roses. United 747=flying bus! Used to fly 737s for a living....now I fly a King Air three days a week, and borrow a buddy's Citabria for shits and giggles! The Citabria is WAY "funner" than the baby Boeing or the KA!
Lyle

A King Air is a great compromise between a Citabria/J3 and a 737/747. You've done well. Getting a King Air gig like that is exactly what I want.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkAKAheQIAA

There are some pro pilots who fly aerobatics or old taildraggers as a hobby, but a friend of mine who gives seaplane instruction said, in general, the "bus drivers" are the hardest to train because their stick & rudder skills have stagnated. She said the students who get their seaplane rating the fastest are crop dusters.

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"United 747 pilot" would have been less redundant...

Glad to hear you tried to warn her.

When people say that modern airliners are flown by button pushers or whatever, I always wish I could bring them up to the cockpit of my plane on some dark, rainy, windy night and let them show me how easy it is.

When I left the Navy, I considered going for an A&P ticket until I found out how little money they made. I ended up spending 35 years at Ford Engineering as a research technician. The only A&P I knew who made decent money was a friend who worked for GM corporate aviation.

I am not sure whether it is worth a reply however here goes:

As I often stated, we all start with 0 hour in the log book. I just wonder these guys were probably hired off the street...don't you think they have been through the small aircraft right of passage?
The ones who will never have a chance to sit on the flight deck, left or right seat are usually the most vocal and uneducated about what it takes to get there, I am surprised in this case! What's your license number?
BTW if you call them Turkeys at least use a capital T if you don't mind.

Yes you are right to some extent and I can prove that, I just spend seven hours re-learning to fly a tail-drager with a highly experienced tail wheel instructor (after more than 15 years on bigger a/c) to learn to handle my new Maule on 31" tires. It wasn't always pretty but I can do it again safely.

Without revealing too much, I also sat on the "dark side" of the sim and done check rides where younger pilots (presumed computer literate from a young age) completely screwed up on glass.
Don't bother answering this!
Cheers.

I'll bother. I think that the simulator check rides should include a situation where the pilot is over water past the point of no return and will have to hand-fly and land for say, 1500 NM with the landing to be manual and at night. Somewhere along the line they might include the situation that the French pilots found themselves in when they augered in over the South Atlantic. The co-pilot fucked that one up royally when the AC was in the shitter.

The examiner should be able to kill almost everything and force the crew to fly manual VFR at any time. How many crews could divert to a military airbase and shoot a successful PAR approach and landing?