Letters to the Editor
cerireid
Published Letters: 21 Editor's Choice: 3
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Pompous and redundant phrasing - an explanation?
[Read the article: Ask the pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I meant to write this after part one of your guide to airline terminology, but it applies to some of part 2, as well. I think that perhaps some of the strange phrasing is deliberate, to allow a short period from the start of the announcement to the point in the announcement when the information is actually imparted. A kind of wake up call, or logon. So 'At this time ladies and gentlement, please ...', really means 'Hello, I'm making an announcement'. And stuff like 'tamper with, disrupt or destroy' conveys the same message several times to make sure even your deaf granny in the back row gets it (though I admit she was unlikely to fiddle with the smoke detector in the first place).
I'd be interested to know if anyone involved in the training of cabin crew has an opinion on this. Of course, it could just be an adaption from earlier days, when the cabin sound systems were of poorer quality, that serves no purpose now.
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Four years....!
[Read the article: Ask the Pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thanks for another great article Patrick. Ignore the criticism from would-be editors about the first para ('burn the first reel', as they used to say in the movie biz).
I was amazed to read that it's four years since you piloted an aircraft. Are you sure your byline shouldn't be 'Patrick Smith used to be an airline pilot'; or maybe you should alter the name of the column to 'Ask the former pilot turned aviation industry columnist' ...?
I'm guessing from the frustration that sometimes pops out of your columns that you've been looking for a flying job? If so, I'd be very interested in reading about the realities of trying to find a decent job - we keep hearing about airline jobs in India, or Japan, or Europe ... I'm guessing you've been looking there, too?
I'm not convinced that Gary Owen isn't a nineteen year-old Vietnam buff (a bit like I used to be). If so - nice creative writing skills, Gary...
Phantoms: I remember reading in Penthouse or somewhere, in the '70s, that the crews used to call Phantoms a real 'tits machine'. I don't really know what it means, but it's stayed with me ever since. You didn't mention how enormous the F4 is - I saw one side by side with an A4 in a museum, and it looked like the A4 would fit inside the cockpit of the Phantom.
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Surely this inefficiency is expensive?
[Read the article: Ask the pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Congratulations on your flying job, Patrick.
It seems strange to me that the industry has slavishly followed the 'higher frequency' model (more flights per day on a given route). To adopt this strategy in the face of increased probability of delays can't make much economic sense for an industry whose profitability is always on a knife edge. As with most things to do with air travel, the politics of the situation are probably what's driving us in this undesirable direction. You can imagine the shitstorm if the FAA took any effective action to _reduce_ capacity at this point (by reducing available slots, say). The obvious fact - that the infrastructure changes (allowing, say, reduced separation) are long-term, but the capacity crisis is happening right now - would be ignored by the media and politians eager to win points with the voters.
As with the pointless theatre of 'security', it's difficult to see any of this changing until the system is acknowledged to have collapsed. In the past, this has been a 'blood response' - the current integrated form of air traffic control is a result of a collision between airliners over the Grand Canyon, and the resulting furore in the media. But I don't think the capacity issue is having a grave effect on safety - I would guess that the accident statistics will stay the same, while the causes will skew towards capacity issues.
The fact that the media in general is woefully ignorant and seems just to slavishly copy press releases makes it even more unlikely that the situation will be dealt with any time soon.
For most of us (who can't afford private jets), I guess the answer is just to fly as little as possible.
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Disappearing pilots
[Read the article: Ask the Pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Nobody doubts, I think, that eventually pilots will be removed from commercial aeroplanes (probably freight aircraft will go first). We're amassing a huge body of expertise in handling remotely piloted vehicles, and the trend there is for the pilot to hand off the flying tasks to the automated systems, and act only in a supervisory role. Clearly the technology exists to do that with commercial aircraft right now.
The sticking point is our perception of the risks involved - we require automated systems to perform at a level of reliability we don't require (can't even measure) for human operators. And an accident that a flying pilot might have avoided (think Al Haynes or Bryce McCormick) is said to be 'caused by' automation. This ignores the fact that many lives would be saved by the accidents that didn't happen in the traditional (human error/CRM) ways. Only when we're prepared to trade a low chance of machine error against a higher chance of human error will we start boarding unpiloted commercial airliners. The nightmare scenario, always, is being trapped on board a plummeting plane with the automated control disabled by some software glitch. Nasty to be killed by 'Syntax error line 2334' - but no worse than being killed by a poorly anticipated microburst, or the mistake of a pilot who's flown too many hours that month.
But I guess Patrick is unlikely to be replaced by a robot for the rest of his flying career...
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Great column
[Read the article: Ask the pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Congratulations on being back in the cockpit full time.
I'm glad I wasn't on the flight into New York. I think I'd have just hired a car after landing at the alternate airport...
The article prompts a couple of questions:
- Do you feel that your rustiness had any meaningful impact on flight safety?
- What was the result of the checkride? (satisfactory, I hope)