Re: Augmented crew - logging flight hours

3&3 is 3 t/o & 3 ldg every 90 days

Re: FDX EVS and Adoption Across Airlines

The first EVS appeared on the fedex fleet around 2011/2012, on a MD11 if I remember well. Then suddenly, the whole fleet started to be retrofitted, except Airbuses. I was kind of shocked as it happened at a time when we, on the ramp, were asking for proper gloves and more ramp snakes for bulk ops, ...

Re: Augmented crew - logging flight hours

There were guys that would bid RFO to make it easy then complain to the capt they were coming up on their 3 & 3. Then there was the issue of "hey man you knew this so why did you bid RFO? Ugly.

Re: Augmented crew - logging flight hours

I would say you would log the hours as a crewmember but probably won't get credit for a landing.

Re: airplane gliding

90deg bank, you're now aerobatic.

Re: music/movie in cockpit on (ultra) long haul?

We never went as far as robes and PJs. Sweat pants and a sweat shirt was typical.

Re: Understanding Emergency Descent Altitudes

I guess what I'm not understanding is the time tables to certain altitudes. From, at least what we were taught, 51 min to 10,000'? That's hardly an emerg. descent. For us it was idle pwr, full speedbrakes and red line. It better not take 51 min or you will bust the chk ride. So what emerg. descent ...

Re: Understanding Emergency Descent Altitudes

I guess what I'm not understanding is the time tables to certain altitudes. From, at least what we were taught, 51 min to 10,000'? That's hardly an emerg. descent. For us it was idle pwr, full speedbrakes and red line. It better not take 51 min or you will bust the chk ride. So what emerg. descent a...

Re: Favorite Song about aviation?

5 Miles Out.....Mike Oldfield....There's a Be-18 (or Lockheed 10) on the cover High Flying Bird.....Zephyr Traveling Band.....Creedence Clearwater Revival...."737 coming out of the sky, take me down to Memphis on a midnight ride Teterboro Tower.......Arthur Godfrey.....1950s. He was a pilot as ...

Re: DHL 757 off runway at SJU

Dumb question - but to cargo aircraft have escape slides on the L1 door, or to they just use a rope for the crew to evacuate? Don't know the answer to that, but they were actually taken off the aircraft by firefighters using ladders. Just saw a video a few minutes ago of them coming out.[/quote Car...

Re: Altitude of the static 6g maneuver?

.... Probably part of the reason a lot of flights go around the Himalayas. Also explains better something I never quite understood - why flying "The Hump" to China was so dangerous in WW2. Max cruising level for a laden WW2 planes was in the mid-20's; if you hit a strong up/down draft off...

Re: music/movie in cockpit on (ultra) long haul?

Obviously there's extremes on both sides. I flew with a Capt. on the 727 many years ago who wouldn't turn on the thunderstorm lights in cruise and forbid any reading. every leg in the middle of the night was horrible. Then on the other end, I came up front from my rest period, MD-11, to find the F/O...

Re: SOP pilot call-out differences?

Starlionblue wrote:

CosmicCruiser wrote:

Not only is it company specific but where I was they changed on a regular basis.

Yep. This always adds some spice to sim and line checks.

Re: SOP pilot call-out differences?

Not only is it company specific but where I was they changed on a regular basis.

Re: A320 pushes nose down in flare mode

If I remember correctly, and anyone feel free to correct me, the MD-11 had something similar. The software update was done before I went to the jet but it had to do with LSAS trimming nose down at a given point in the flare to prevent tail strikes. guys told me something about the nose continuing up...

Re: Airline accident investigations SO 242, etc.

As for choosing a field I would have to say it's as always easy to be a Monday morning quarterback, as we say. They had just had a horrible experience that left them with cracked windshields and a double engine failure. Time did not slowdown and I must admit if I had seen the terrain as I came out o...

Re: Layovers changed from pre covid

From where I was, guys tell me that there are not many long layovers anymore and trips are constantly revised.

Re: Question about quotation on MD-11 landing speeds.

It was fun to fly.

Re: Question about quotation on MD-11 landing speeds.

Good catch. My mind just saw kts.

Re: Question about quotation on MD-11 landing speeds.

It's been a while since I was in either of the jets but I don't remember the MD-11 being 20-30kts faster than the DC-10 at the same wgt. . Remember that the -11 had higher landing weights so that accounts for some increase. Other than that what someone posted about the smaller horizontal stab is tru...

Re: Was [Is] it common to use only idle reverse thrust during landing runs in the DC-10 and L-1011 Tristar?

We used reverse in the DC-10 always unless there were restrictions

Re: FAA Draft AC on Flight Path Management

3.2.2.1 An air carrier’s line operations policy should permit and encourage MFO and should incorporate the following: 1. Encouragement to manually fly the aircraft when conditions permit, including, at least periodically, the entire departure and arrival phases and potentially the entire flight, if...

Re: What is the range of landing speeds for the MD-11?

The Vapp at max ldg wgt was 168kts. Got to see it a few times. Better have your ldg data correct.

Re: Tu-204 requiring no anti-icing system

GalaxyFlyer wrote:

CosmicCruiser wrote:

The Saberliner didn't have wing anti ice initially but you could get ice.

I only flew the Sabre 65 with the wing that heard ice was in the area would stall. We turned on the WAI lots after the two crashes.

Re: Tu-204 requiring no anti-icing system

The Saberliner didn't have wing anti ice initially but you could get ice.

Re: RTO for impending fire

Starlionblue wrote:

As an aside, would you really be looking at the fuel flow 10 knots before V1?

Re: Hours on Type/Total Flying Hours Question

Not sure what you're meaning with "a high-time 121 pilot could bid into the left seat,". Are you saying as a new hire or moving from one 121 carrier to another. As a new hire, as several people have said, you are at the bottom of the seniority list regardless of your hours and experience. ...

Re: Diverting back to origin airport

The Senator was also the guy who frequently rode for free on numerous Corp. jets but still tried to ramrod a bill that disallowed any corp. to write off the cost of their corp. jets above the cost of a coach class seat to the same city. I'll say no more.

Re: After mandated changes, are MD-11's now safe?

If I missed something important tell me but I skipped down about half way thru the comments. First the Fedex crash in EWR was more complicated than just saying the -11 is dangerous. The Capt. made a significant error in his landing brief that resulted in a hard touchdown and big bounce. This was bef...

Re: Restrictions on #2 Thrust Reverse L1011/DC10/MD11

We had no restrictions

Re: Restrictions on #2 Thrust Reverse L1011/DC10/MD11

We had no separate policy for no.2. It was a blanket policy..out of reverse by 80kts.

Re: Could MD-11's used domestically do without the winglets?

I never knew about any Md-11 restrictions regarding that. I just got in the same just jet I was used to flying and left. Not sure what you mean by PIP. Performance Improvement Packages, see : https://www.airlinercafe.com/page.php?id=392 As far as I can tell all the -11s we had were were in that gro...

Re: Could MD-11's used domestically do without the winglets?

I never knew about any Md-11 restrictions regarding that. I just got in the same just jet I was used to flying and left. Not sure what you mean by PIP.

Re: Could MD-11's used domestically do without the winglets?

Don't know if the 777 has taken it but we used to do MEM-HNL and KIX-MEM

Re: Can flaps be used to slow an aircraft or only to allow it to fly safely at slower speeds?

Max Q wrote:

Flaps should not be used to slow an aircraft, they are there to allow you to fly slower


Using flaps to decelerate is poor airmanship


That’s what the speed brake is for

Re: Could MD-11's used domestically do without the winglets?

The -400Ds were exclusively used for short missions (the lack of winglets is only one of a few modifications from the -400). I don‘t think FedEx has a dedicated MD-11 fleet solely for the domestic network. Instead the flexibility is more important than weight savings for a few short sectors. Correc...

Re: Can you talk with a handheld transreceiver to aircraft?

Back in the late 60s I used to ferry new Cessnas from ICT to MEM to the regional dealer. Very often the new planes had no radio package so we would take a portable VHF radio that we would use to call the tower when reaching MEM. Often there might be a flight of 2 or 3 and the guy with the radio woul...

Re: For pilots: Was the DC-10 a joy to fly?

When I moved from the 727 to the DC-10 I thought it was a roomy, easy to fly, predictable jet. Much easier to land than the 727. After I went to the MD-11 I was so used to the sensitivity of the the controls that the MD-10 felt sluggish and yet it was just a DC-10. You always get used to what you're...

Re: Could flap operation be automated?

Many folks beat me to a few comments like the NA Saberliner slats, I remember them as just on rollers, no springs. The co-pilots, like me, got to polish them weekly! As well as the comment on weather, ATC, etc. Along those lines, if flaps were automated then you'd need to be able to disable the syst...

Re: Personal items left onboard American Airlines flight

In the late 60'sI flew to EWR to pick up a plane the A/C salesman I worked for had bought. I forget the airline but when I got off and was walking down the concourse I realized I didn't have my wallet. I dashed back to the gate and asked the agent if I could go back on and look for my wallet. She sa...

Re: 727 V-speed cards

Same as we had.

Re: Freighter VS Passenger variants.

The freighters have reinforced floors so not sure what the weight trade off would be

Re: Around the weather

Very true. A lot of our deviations were in non radar environments and looking and tracking the storm on our radar we would pick a good heading and ask for the turn. I see your point too. Worst case scenario was those times that when not only were you not in radar contact but you couldn't raise anyon...

Re: Around the weather

We usually just said we need a 20 deg left turn for weather though the offset would certainly be a good choice too. . I rarely did offset track except over the Atlantic.

Re: Around the weather

I think you may be making this too complicated. When you deviate you will ask for a "x" number of degrees turn or "x" number of miles L or R. When you're ready to resume your course ATC may give you direct to a point down the road or a heading or turn to intercept your course.

Re: At what point do JT8D engines need to be spooled up before landing?

Maybe I'm missing something here but on the 72 once you select flaps and gear you better be adding some power. Once configured you will have all the the power spooled up sufficiently and on speed. Way back in the 70s I flew a Sabreliner and the Capt I flew with would partially extend the speed brake...

Re: So sick of hearing of all these cancelled flights!

I'm always reluctant to make a "new" law but the airlines certainly need to get their Sh*t together and be the customer service industry they are supposed to be. Not only do they not care about you or your schedule but don't go out of their way to help. This goes back pre-Covid for a few y...

Re: DC-10 Horizontal Stabilizer Size

2000-2012 in the -11. I never saw the nose come up after touchdown or while in reverse or anything similar which is what I remember the problem being before I went over to it. I don't remember any surprises except my own screw up during landing with flaps 50, LOL. I guess the 777 is the way to go. F...

Re: DC-10 Horizontal Stabilizer Size

The landing issues were corrected with a LSAS software update. I think a lot of MD-11 pilots would disagree with you. Well, I was among them and don't remember too much being said after the update. Everyone will have some interesting moment as we all do but nothing habitual. I could say the same th...

Re: DC-10 Horizontal Stabilizer Size

The landing issues were corrected with a LSAS software update. Out of curiosity, do you recall what year the corrective software update was released? I went to the -11 in 2000 so it was done before that. I avoided bidding it for awhile after hearing the stories of landing issues. When I did go to i...