Secrets Your Pilot Won't Tell You
Posted by Melissa Carter at 10/20/2010 10:35 AM 
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: pilots secrets Bert Show Melissa
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: pilots secrets Bert Show Melissa
I'm constantly under pressure to carry less fuel than I'm comfortable with. Airlines are always looking at the bottom line, and you burn fuel carrying fuel. Sometimes if you carry just enough fuel and you hit thunderstorms or delays, then suddenly you're running out of gas and you have to go to an alternate airport. (Captain at a major airline)
Sometimes the airline won't give us lunch breaks or even time to eat. We have to delay flights just so we can get food. (First Officer on a regional carrier)
Most of the time, how you land is a good indicator of a pilot's skill. So if you want to say something nice to the pilot as you're getting off the plane, say "Nice landing." We do appreciate that. (Joe D'Eon)
Cabin air is not as dirty as people think. A portion of the air is recirculated because that helps to reduce humidity. But it's run through hospital-quality HEPA filters, and it's actually cleaner than the air found in most public buildings. (Patrick Smith, commercial pilot and author at askthepilot.com)
Most people get sick after traveling not because of what they breathe but because of what they touch. Always assume that the tray table and the button to push the seat back have not been wiped down, though we do wipe down the lavatory. (Patrick Smith)
Most of you wouldn't consider going down the highway at 60mph without your seat belt fastened. But when we're hurtling through the air at 500mph and we turn off the seat belt sign, half of you take your seat belts off. But if we hit a little air pocket, your head will be on the ceiling. (Captain at a major airline)
If you're going to recline your seat, for God's sake, please check behind you first. You have no idea how many laptops are broken every year by boorish passengers who slam their seat back with total disregard to what's going on behind them. (John Nance)
There is no safest place to sit. In one accident, the people in the back are dead; in the next it's the people up front. (John Nance)
The smoothest place to sit is often over or near the wing. The bumpiest place to sit is in the back. A plane is like a seesaw. If you're in the middle, you don't move as much. (Patrick Smith)
If you're a nervous flier, book a morning flight. The heating of the ground later causes bumpier air, and it's much more likely to thunderstorm in the afternoon. (Jerry Johnson, pilot, Los Angeles)
When you get on that airplane at 7am, you want your pilot to be rested and ready. But the hotels they put us in now are so bad that there are many nights when I toss and turn. They're in bad neighborhoods, they're loud, they've got bedbugs, and there have been stabbings in the parking lot. (Jack Stephan)
People don't understand why they can't use their cell phones. Well, what can happen is 12 people will decide to call someone just before landing, and I can get a false reading on my instruments saying that we are higher than we really are. (Jim Tilmon)
Source: Reader's Digest
What is Fast Food REALLY Made Of?
Great information...thanks - will help with all our travels.
Especially like the part about the air being cleaner than we think. Always hear someone say they caught something from the air on the plane and nothing we can do about it - yuk.
Also great idea to thank the Pilot for a great landing...sometimes you see them in the doorway and don't know what to say.
Thanks,
Kellie Acosta
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