Easy to be a pilot?

[Steve (sdh2903)]

I very much doubt he's paying over the odds for his drivers. He doesn't pay above the odds for anything. He's just had to give crews a pay rise at certain airports where lots were jumping ship to other airlines. What might seem like a decent salary figure doesn't take into account the fact most are employed by third party agencies and don't get any paid leave, pensions, healthcare, travel perks etc etc in comparison with other airlines. I've even heard of staff having to pay for their own uniforms. The price of cheap airfares eh.

[Nemesis]

Well I've just read the whole thread, lots of opinions, most valid, some as funny as, so here's my contribution, sorry it may ramble a bit but I'm only just getting the senses back in the right firing order.....

The Sage & I have just got back from a lovely couple of weeks in Madeira, we flew with Monarch, not the cheapest by any stretch, but there's a reason for that.... I'll explain later.

On the flight out the the chief chap up front who I shall call Biggles comes on the tannoy thingy as says "tis a bit windy at the airport..... so here's the plan....... we'll slow down a bit and have a good look see at the conditions..... we've got loads of fuel on board for just these sorts of occasions...... if we need to circle for a half hour or so then that's what we'll do..... then we'll have a go at an approach..... and if it still looks a bit rough we'll think about a divert to Porto Santo or maybe even Tenerife..... I'll keep you posted"

The paraffin pigeon slows a bit and all seems well, the sage and I open another vino collapso and settle in for the possible nause of a delay or even a ferry crossing...... 

Well we barely had time to check the bouquet of the vino when Biggles is back on..... "A TAP (air Portugal) plane just did a Go Around...... so we'll have a go and see what we can do....... Cabin crew 10 minutes to landing please......"  That got the pucker valve twitching a bit...... you see it's well known or possibly an urban myth that the TAP pilots have higher wind limits for landing than us visitors...... so the Sage and I exchange a knowing glance, a quick peck on the cheek , necked the vino and lashed ourselves in..... I considered videoing the landing for the inquests, but thought better of it..... there's no image stabilisation on my Ipad after all.

So here's the run in..... nice speed brake action.... flaps down, gear down engines at idle.... nice smooth decent..... lining up very nicely..... then there's a huge bucket load of up and downs, lefts, rights and left some more..... Biggles gives it a good hand full of throttle and some hefty control inputs and I said to the sage "that'll be a go around then....."

Time just seemed to stand still....... the ground got closer and there seemed to be a whole lot more runway behind us than I'd have liked...... then some fellow terror victim announces quite loudly..... "goodness me Biggles..... plant the thing (I'll let you decipher that one) " there were audible nervous responses to that outburst......

Well the Airbus A330 is known for it's ground effect, that makes it a bit of a sod to land, it tends to loiter just above the tarmac rendering the brakes mostly useless.

Biggles had just given the thing a good shove along with the paraffin burners but then all went quiet, with my nerves shredded I formed the humble opinion "if he's not going around I reckon he's a bit long and a bit fast" when thump we're down..... holy mother of all things friction and g-force....  my forehead says hello to the seat back in front of me.... the usual roar of reverse thrust and the most impressive braking I've ever experienced..... and as calm as you like we're at the far end of the runway turning around and heading back to the first taxiway...... or so I thought..... during the nervous outpouring of applause and a few "thank F*ck for that" outbursts most people missed the fact that we trundled most of the way back down the runway to the furthest taxiway..... I can only assume to give the brakes time to cool off a bit...... 

So why fly the more expensive Monarch...... 

Last time out we were delayed due to the wind, no fuss no drama, called to a gate and given vouchers for some nosh and a brew.... didn't have to ask they just did it, when we got a plane to go home on the crew had run out of duty time to get us all the way home..... so plan B.... they flew us to Faro where they fed and watered us again, a fresh crew flown out from Gatwick picked us up and took us the rest of the way, passengers of the other low cost carriers were not treated so nicely..... I saw at least 3 "cancelled" flights, no support for the passengers at all.... and because they had to re-book have a guess how much the fairs had risen by???

Also whilst we were away the news broke of the Ryanair holiday roster screw up....... a chap I was diving with (who is a Glider instructor and has some friends & relative that pilot for Ryanair)  told me about a little known policy of "if a Ryanair pilot misses an approach there's a bit of an inquest as to why..... if he's deemed to be at fault he loses some bonus or other..... That scares the carp out of me..... that just pushes the boundaries of decision making in the wrong direction.

So in summary,

Would I get on a plane without Biggles making the decisions? Not on your chuffin life, never. The very thought of a computer making the decisions that Biggles did leaves me cold.   

Are they overpaid? Nope not in my opinion anyway.

Nem............

 

 

       

  

 

[Nick Mace]

I once flew into a fog bound Guernsey. From the air, the runway, which is at the top of the island, looked quite clear (the rest of the island was under a thick blanket of cotton wool). However, as we got low in the approach, the visibility was terrible because you started looking horizontally  through the horizontal layer of fog.

We did two aborted approaches. Before the third attempt the pilot came out of the cockpit and went to the loo. I speculated that he had gone to psych himself up and half expected him to come out with a rising sun bandana on. He made a great landing though. 

[jeff oakley]

In the news again today that Monarch are in big financial trouble and that is because they are competing with Ryan Air and the like, but doing everything right. 

Air travel now is not the same as it was unless you go to the far end and the like of Qatar. Now we have Norwegian Air offering a flight to Singapore from London for £135, what do they cut to make a profit on that. I almost wish they would all put their prices up and that might keep some of the idiots from ever being allowed on a plane that we now have to put up with.

[SootySport]

On ‎30‎/‎09‎/‎2017 at 07:07, Nemesis said:

Well I've just read the whole thread, lots of opinions, most valid, some as funny as, so here's my contribution, sorry it may ramble a bit but I'm only just getting the senses back in the right firing order.....

The Sage & I have just got back from a lovely couple of weeks in Madeira, we flew with Monarch, not the cheapest by any stretch, but there's a reason for that.... I'll explain later.

On the flight out the the chief chap up front who I shall call Biggles comes on the tannoy thingy as says "tis a bit windy at the airport..... so here's the plan....... we'll slow down a bit and have a good look see at the conditions..... we've got loads of fuel on board for just these sorts of occasions...... if we need to circle for a half hour or so then that's what we'll do..... then we'll have a go at an approach..... and if it still looks a bit rough we'll think about a divert to Porto Santo or maybe even Tenerife..... I'll keep you posted"

The paraffin pigeon slows a bit and all seems well, the sage and I open another vino collapso and settle in for the possible nause of a delay or even a ferry crossing...... 

Well we barely had time to check the bouquet of the vino when Biggles is back on..... "A TAP (air Portugal) plane just did a Go Around...... so we'll have a go and see what we can do....... Cabin crew 10 minutes to landing please......"  That got the pucker valve twitching a bit...... you see it's well known or possibly an urban myth that the TAP pilots have higher wind limits for landing than us visitors...... so the Sage and I exchange a knowing glance, a quick peck on the cheek , necked the vino and lashed ourselves in..... I considered videoing the landing for the inquests, but thought better of it..... there's no image stabilisation on my Ipad after all.

So here's the run in..... nice speed brake action.... flaps down, gear down engines at idle.... nice smooth decent..... lining up very nicely..... then there's a huge bucket load of up and downs, lefts, rights and left some more..... Biggles gives it a good hand full of throttle and some hefty control inputs and I said to the sage "that'll be a go around then....."

Time just seemed to stand still....... the ground got closer and there seemed to be a whole lot more runway behind us than I'd have liked...... then some fellow terror victim announces quite loudly..... "goodness me Biggles..... plant the thing (I'll let you decipher that one) " there were audible nervous responses to that outburst......

Well the Airbus A330 is known for it's ground effect, that makes it a bit of a sod to land, it tends to loiter just above the tarmac rendering the brakes mostly useless.

Biggles had just given the thing a good shove along with the paraffin burners but then all went quiet, with my nerves shredded I formed the humble opinion "if he's not going around I reckon he's a bit long and a bit fast" when thump we're down..... holy mother of all things friction and g-force....  my forehead says hello to the seat back in front of me.... the usual roar of reverse thrust and the most impressive braking I've ever experienced..... and as calm as you like we're at the far end of the runway turning around and heading back to the first taxiway...... or so I thought..... during the nervous outpouring of applause and a few "thank F*ck for that" outbursts most people missed the fact that we trundled most of the way back down the runway to the furthest taxiway..... I can only assume to give the brakes time to cool off a bit...... 

So why fly the more expensive Monarch...... 

Last time out we were delayed due to the wind, no fuss no drama, called to a gate and given vouchers for some nosh and a brew.... didn't have to ask they just did it, when we got a plane to go home on the crew had run out of duty time to get us all the way home..... so plan B.... they flew us to Faro where they fed and watered us again, a fresh crew flown out from Gatwick picked us up and took us the rest of the way, passengers of the other low cost carriers were not treated so nicely..... I saw at least 3 "cancelled" flights, no support for the passengers at all.... and because they had to re-book have a guess how much the fairs had risen by???

Also whilst we were away the news broke of the Ryanair holiday roster screw up....... a chap I was diving with (who is a Glider instructor and has some friends & relative that pilot for Ryanair)  told me about a little known policy of "if a Ryanair pilot misses an approach there's a bit of an inquest as to why..... if he's deemed to be at fault he loses some bonus or other..... That scares the carp out of me..... that just pushes the boundaries of decision making in the wrong direction.

So in summary,

Would I get on a plane without Biggles making the decisions? Not on your chuffin life, never. The very thought of a computer making the decisions that Biggles did leaves me cold.   

Are they overpaid? Nope not in my opinion anyway.

Nem............

 

 

       

  

 

Aha, a Biggles with a sense of humour, I like that.     Perhaps Airbus should upgrade their brakes to some AP's as do all high powered ground vehicles to give a bit more braking confidence.  Holidays always broaden our experiences and it seems the travel part of the holiday plays quite a part of that.

[John K]

Approx 15 years ago I was flying between Edinburgh and Brum every week - did this for 3 years.

So you got very familiar with exactly how the A319 took off and landed at each airport.

Flying home to Edinburgh on a Friday afternoon we came in for a landing on a glorious sunny day.

We touched down and just kept going at full chat, "No problem" I thought, "he's going to do a touch and go", except he didn't go back up.

At this point all the recognised weekly commuters are doing the whole meerkat thing whilst tightening the lap belts. Funny to see the once a year holiday flyers blissfully unaware that anything was unusual.

Then as the end of the runway was coming up, the brakes and reverse thrust both come on full. Holy Bejezuus that plane slowed down fast, But we still turned off onto the last taxiway at a fair lick.

Then a very p******** off pilot broke protocol and come onto the tannoy.

"Sorry about that Ladies and Gentlemen, Air Traffic Control landed two planes on the same runway"

On our approach we flew over the top of a plane that was already landing. He had his brakes on in the air and was aiming for the start of the runway and we aimed for the middle and didn't stop.

A genuine couple of hundred meters near miss. Our pilots earned their beans that day...

 

[John K]

19 minutes ago, SootySport said:

Aha, a Biggles with a sense of humour, I like that.  

Wondering if I should post my taking off from Moscow story. We had a proper Biggles that day.

But the story is a) unbelievable and b) makes me sound a bit racist (which I am so not) - so I'll have a few beers and then post it..!

[Captain Colonial]

Well, one less well-run airline today.    O”Leary must be doing a jig that the eyes are on someone else for a change.

[DonPeffers]

On TV one lady said she had rebooked flights with Ryanair. 

Good luck.

[jeff oakley]

There might be a few more pilots who will be happy to work for Raynair now. You can say what you want about them but they are a profitable carrier where as Monarch clearly were not.

I hope the 2000 people employed by Monarch can find places elsewhere as redundancy is no fun. 

[DonPeffers]

Ryanair  15 Apr 2011 https://www.eyeonspain.com/forums/posts-long-13120.aspx  alleges 'Jo Heath, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, was left 'humiliated' and stranded on the runway and had no means of boarding the plane by herself. Her husband Paul had to give her a fireman's lift onto the aircraft.
Northampton County Court awarded her £1,750 after it ruled the airline broke disability discrimination laws and breached its contract with Heath when its staff refused to help the couple'.

I have never used Ryanair and never will.

From what I see they only improve or obey the law when forced to do so.

[jeff oakley]

I agree with you Don, they have done some crap things and I have never flown with them or intend to, but all this will be forgotten in short order. They will have a £29 flight sale and people will flock to the website as they always do.

Everyone knows their reputation yet they still book important flights with them because it is cheap.  

O Leary does respond only when pushed and even then he looks at how to get out of it cheaply. His latest wheeze appears to be offering to put you on a coach to where you were supposed to fly to. His opinion is that fulfils the obligation, I am guessing it will not for the CAA etc.

[corsechris]

We had a ground-shy pilot on FlyBe one time. Well, I say 'we'...he didn't actually land while we sat in the departure lounge waiting of him. A later FlyBe flight did land, as did a few other very similar aircraft but this guy just dicked about in the pattern for a bit, did a couple of aborts then p******** off to Basle to try his luck there.

Very sad to hear about Monarch. Another victim of the bargain bucket airlines really as circumstances forced the to compete in an area already stuffed to the gills with the likes of EasyJet & Ryanair. Yes, you can argue that they weren't competitive so deserved to fail, but I disagree, we've seen how the cheap airlines make it happen.

[SootySport]

This week I see adverts on TV with Easyjet offering thousands of discounted extra seats all over Europe.    Coincidence?