are sid and star charts used in the flightplan or are they issued by an air traffic controller?

>>178655
Both but usually it's issued lightly from ATC.

Someone asked me about how we actually use charts and I'm going to address that. We always use charts for any approach and usually disregard programming the MCDU entirely.

I think I remember reading about how the Airbus A380 and some newer models of the A320 and A330/A340 family have even higher resolution displays and a new option to download charts directly from a companies database and have them on any display.

Pretty nifty!

>>178659
>We always use charts for any approach and usually disregard programming the MCDU entirely.
Why?

>>178663
Well, it's rather my choice. The FO usually handles it so I really leave it up to him but for the most part charts are better. It's good to at least have an arrival and ALTN page up and ACARS running weather and departure/arrival data.

Things like Kerry are usually just plain and vanilla straight in approaches due to terrain and Shannon airport being just up the road.

>>178666
If you are using a compiled approach for the majority of the approach then it's best to just edit waypoints out if your carrier gives you the option. That's a good example for the LIFFY/28 approach since half of what you would normally expect isn't used.

Would you know the runway you would be landing on at the destination airport or would you find out by being advised by ATC or ATIS while flying? (weather changes)
How would you know which runway approach chart to use?

>>178667
LIFFY/28 is basically one of the more common arrivals at Dublin for runway 28. I forgot to add that. Bear with me here since I really don't have any charts in hand or on this computer so I will try to explain how ATC at Dublin might modify it.

Red = Normal ROCKY arrival for runway 28. This is normally given for international arrivals arriving westbound.

Blue = Instructions that might be given by ATC. They aren't requesting you to use a procedure but they are modifying it.

>>178669
Forgot the image.

>>178668
We are constantly being advised from our company every thirty minutes about traffic, weather and other factors. Before every flight we are usually given a runway to expect to land on based on our weight and other things.
Usually on approach to an airport like Dublin you will be given your expected runway, weather, reports from other pilots and arrival information and then it's up to you to follow the pattern.

>>178673
Ireland has pretty unpredictable weather as well. Wind shifting in a different direction can mean a instant bad day. As for your ATIS question, that is usually done by the FO but it's best to get all information directly from the controller when possible.

So during a flight from let's say Boston to Dublin it's it's in our companies practice to have three crew members. One to monitor fuel, performance and the rest to handle communications and constantly checking for new updates about weather along the route and at our destination. This provides an even work flow.

>>178673
thanks, it makes a lot of sense now.

>>178671

>>178678
i noticed that too

Where did you train?
How often do you fly per week/month?
I want to be a pilot one day, just finishing off my PPL then hopefully going to do an integrated commercial course.

Haven't seen you in months.
Do you ever fly general aviation planes like cessna's etc. If so where and what plane.
Also, whats your favorite approach to do? Elaborate.

>>178699
I got my multi commercial at Waterford back in the day. I did some of my base training at knock using a BAE-146. Schedules often change but usually it's three days a week when flying a few flights each of those days across Europe. Once or twice a month I fly to Boston. Most of my routes are short though.

>>178708

When I was younger and studying abroad in America my uncle had a Bonanza that I got to fool around with for a short while. My father used to own a 152 but he sold it around ten years ago.

I really don't do GA these days since it's still pretty expensive and the nearest field is Cork where I am actually based.

As far as approaches go one of my favorites is ILS 06 at Shannon since it's really a lovely view for both us and the passengers... on a good day.

Someone also asked me a question what I thought about the BAE-146 a while back and here it is: It's alright.

Despite the problems that are all too well-known it's still a mighty fine plane to fly. Keep in mind that I never actually flew one on a commercial flight. Aer Lingus basically just leased one and we used it for base training. Sitting in the thing is actually more comfortable than you would expect and the plane really does have some great performance to it.

So really it's not a fantastic plane but not a bad one at all.

OP - I just graduated from a Uni with my degree in Economics. Needless to say, by the time I graduated, I finally realized that what I really wanted was fly. Just as my grandfather(flew DC-10's for AA, C130, B-52, you name it) did, my great uncle(b-25 driver), and uncle.

In YOUR opinion - do you think it is a sound move for me to attempt to attain my CPL? I've already got about 70k in student loan debt, mind you.

My grandfather was my inspiration for a lot of things and passed away just as I entered school so I, unfortunately, cannot ask him any of these questions.

In the end, is it worth the stress and financial woes(at the beginning)? In particular, my goal would be to get on with NetJets, Avantair, or some other fractional.

TIA

What did you get in your leaving cert?
Also what are the main aspects of education that you really need for Pilot Training College? I absolutely suck at maths and am afraid this will prevent me from becoming a pilot.

bump

Considering the enormously expensive training, the years of selling your soul hour building; is it all worth it in the end or should I just do something else?

>>178721
>>178848
>>178720

There is some math involved but it's not really bad and most of it can be completed with just a simple calculator. I'm not sure about other carriers but Aer Lingus requires us to manually calculate our fuel using tables. We basically do a fuel check every thirty minutes to see where we should be at when we reach a checkpoint. The math really isn't that hard.

If you are looking to make a lot of money and have steak dinners and pints with your mates every night then you should wake up right now. I'm not going to tell you how much I make since it would be rude but let's just say that is modest and enough to make a decent living. If you have any debt or student fees then it's best to pay those all of first. If you really love flying then it's the best job in the world. If you like driving sports cars and other fancy things then you should look somewhere else.

Although the pay does improve over time. Some of our most senior and experienced pilots make around 60,000 a year but they have been with the company for more than like thirty years.

So it's really hard to say. Flying is one of the best things in the world but for most the real payoff is getting to fIy some of the most fantastic machines ever made by human hands. I haven't ever approached management and asked for a raise but I'm getting married in July and if and when I have a kid I'll probably ask for a little extra.

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>>178933

sounds good to me, i got rejected from a training course because of my maths (i'm not TERRIBLE at it but it's not shit hot).
Are you planning to change airliners or airlines to fly bigger/different aircraft? Not sure of aer lingus's fleet.

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>>178938
I'm pretty much comfortable with where I am at the moment. The only other aircraft Aer Lingus is planning on purchasing in the future is the A350 so that's one thing to look forward to.

>>178942

Would i be right in thinking that you have to do an exam every 6 months to test you on emergency procedures and such? How long in all did it take you to get from a person with no flying hours to airline pilot?

bamp

Anymore news on the possible 747's being leased?

>>179012
The board turned it down. Mainly due to the fact that it wouldn't be profitable.

>>178943
Quite a while. I had my IFR before I started training so that was a big help. CL two years and almost another two for everything else. The school I went to was very nice with allowing me to keep my own time. Mostly due to financial reasons. We do P-Checks every four months in a simulator and we get random evaluations from time to time.

>>179050
By profitable I mean that it really wasn't worth it for the routes. Dublin turned it down to it's size and Shannon wanted to charge outrageous fees for it to use the airport. Not to mention that I think we only have like three or six pilots who are actually rated to fly a 747-300.

I remember someone asking me if I ever had any emergency situations and I have only really had two:

. On a flight to Zurich the system that controls cabin pressure failed and the cabin vertical speed skyrocketed. We caught it really early so there was no need to declare a formal emergency but we returned anyway obviously.

. On takeoff from Cork in heavy rain we had an engine fail on us.

>>179054

Tell us about the engine failure!

>>179076
We were at about 2000 when I noticed on the PFD that there was a slip and we weren't accelerating normally. I simply assumed that there wasn't enough thrust or there was asymmetrical thrust (no warning was given on the PFD though) and I looked over and noticed that there was like a 40% in the N1 between engine 1 and engine 2. It kept falling and it failed despite efforts to contain it.

Visibility was pretty bad (2 miles) but the wind was pretty calm. As much as I wanted to get the thing down the runway was pretty soaked and we were still carrying a bit of fuel. I would have made a run for Shannon but I was concerned about the condition of the other engine. About twenty minutes later we landed at cork using about 1200 (I would assume since I judged it based on visual cues) meters.

>>179079
The FO said he was monitoring the ECAM and everything up until about 1000 feet and then he switched his attention to returning a message to the company regarding changing our route due to unexpected weather.

Do u think about terrorism? what do you do if somebody trys to take over plane?

>>179086
Terrorism is a constant thread in our society worldwide. There are procedures in place for events such as having a bomb on board the aircraft or an unruly passenger. When I am CA I enforce a zero-tolerance policy on all my flights and treat anything that could be considered a threat to me, my passengers and my aircraft a direct and major threat to inflict damage and harm.

We have checklists for things such as a passenger having a mental breakdown, passengers who are suicidal and more. Last year I returned my aircraft to the gate at Dublin because a pouting kid who was upset was talking trash to my crew and told them that he was going to open a door in-flight.

I requested armed security to meet me at the gate to place him under arrest and I had to fill out a bunch of papers with Irish federal authorities and various attorneys who represent the airlines (obviously to give my statement in case the family tried to sue the airline).

Due to legal and security reasons I cannot show you the full procedures that are placed in our companies manuals for pilots and cabin crew. In the event of such a thing we are fully prepared to deal with the situation of an attempted hostile takeover of the aircraft.

>>179095
what are your opinions on what happened on 9/11? this was im guessing before a lot of these procedures were put into place.
they only had box cutters aparently, but were in a position to totally control the planes.

>>179096
9/11 is a very controversial topic for me. Obviously there was a lot of failures in the system. Not just in North America but worldwide. I think the crew on each of the flights were far, far, far prepared to handle what happened on that terrible day.

I was actually talking about this with my soon to be father in law a while back. If you look at most airlines before 9/11 one of the more common procedures in some reasons in different regions was to actually follow the orders given by the hijackers. This was well before anyone would have even thought that a hijacker would have used a aircraft to carry out a suicide mission to inflict mass harm.

So really I haven't studied much behind the polices that airlines enforced before 9/11 but I think for a while that it was put too far behind other priorities in training. Aer Lingus has been the victim of several hijackings over the years and all of which pretty much ended in the hijackers just requesting the crew to fly them to some nation.

It's very scary to think what the 9/11 hijackers accomplished on that day and nearly ten years later it still horrifies me.

I am in full support of airport body scanners, background checks and everything else. I am not a full supporter of having flight crews armed with weapons. Someone a few years after 9/11 once asked me "aren't you afraid of who might be boarding your plane and what goes on once that door locks"?

The answer is no. Flying is a passion for me and I will not let anything tarnish it. People should be alert and on guard but they should not be afraid to fly. If that happens then the spirit of aviation means nothing.

whats the toughest thing to you about being a pilot?

>>179100
thanks for answering questions.

what do you think about the Aer lingus in-flight product, as the last few times I have flown I thought it was not very good.. B.O.B food, drink ect... and I find KLM and Lufthansa much better IMO.

what do you think about the recent A330 AF crash ?
Was it frozen pitot tubes ... or something else... as the ACARS messages do not make much sense..

Fellow A320 FO here.

>>179163
When I started to fly it was to be continuously ahead of your aircraft. You need to plan ahead to find the point at which you start descending, anticipate the expected standard arrival and the upcoming ATC frequences.
After some time you get used to this.

>>179186
The only correct answer is that we simply don't know. The A320 and A330 are very similar as is the A340 which I had the pleasure to fly as a full flight simulator.
There can be multipe different things that went wrong.

>>179190

Ahh right. Speaking of which, how do you know at what point to start descent? I mean when i fly the C152( yeah i know it's not comparable) it's more of a guesstimate. Surely it's not that on an airliner...

>927369

>384782

>123285

Do you fuck stewardesses a lot, or not at all? Why?