Are all Captains this nice?

[Guest SWA737]

Check this out. http://forum.avsim.net/topic/340367-hi/

[markadeane 274]

When I was a kid I lived in a small town in NZ called Gisborne. The local feeder line "Eagle Air" operated Embraer Bandeirantes into our airport. Every Saturday my grandfather and I would go out and spend an hour watching the middday flights come and go. One day a pilot took us out to the aircraft, sat me in the left seat, started the right engine, showed me the indications involved, then let me shut it down. I was so happy I can't even tell you! He then powered everything off, and LEFT us in the cockpit for half an hour while he had a coffee break! I think he told my grandfather to just give the tower controller a wave as we left the aircraft so he didn't get suspicious!!!The local manager eventually threw us on a flight down to Napier (30 mins flight) for the day for free. We got a tour of the airport ops area, the control tower, and even got to do a walkaround on a 737-200. Further joy!Another time, flying on an F-27 the Captain let me manipulate the aileron trim to bank the aircraft left and right a little. Equal amounts of joy were experienced!In Australia, I sat on the lap of the first officer of a 737-400, she let me change the range on the ND. Even more joy! (I was about 8, so not the kind of joy you might be thinking...)These experiences in the 1980's really gave me the 'bug' for flying, and shaped my passion for it. It saddens me deeply that a young boy or girl nowadays will never have that opportunity. Thankfully FS and companies like PMDG have gone a long way towards filling that gap.(Now I'm getting all misty-eyed excuse me!)

[des4ever 0]

Ray and Zach,You'll get that almost every time on FL. I'd say more than 95 out of 100. I work with these guys and they are among the best crews in the world. They have long days and their rest starts when the passenger door opens, so understand that there will be times when they do have to make for the hotel to get their rest. For the most part though, their interest in the customers is always apparent. As a side note, from what I've seen, the PMDG NGX is like sitting in the real cockpit.

[jbassue 181]

Amazing post, I was at the deck of the AA 738, last month, First Officer asked if I fly, I replied "Are you kidding?" And I went on to blab about PMDG 737 being so lifelike, like I've already seen this before, then he told me go right ahead and start that APU, my heart beat slowed as I looked at him, and he nodded :} I looked up instantly and did it and was greeted by the fact that you must pull the button then push it down So there I was sweating wondering if I did something wrong , then he told me. We also went through the flight plan, that swerved through some Caribbean Islands, from MIA, then hit the GABAR Waypoint into the Robert L Bradshaw Intl, it was amazing, and I must thank PMDG, for letting me avoid embarrassment :(. I felt that I did a huge part in that flight, and that the safety of myself and my mother could of relied on just simply turning on the APU, and then I realize why they don't normally let kids do this.Truly amazing things these pilots are !

[Aerodynamic 0]

Some years ago I had a layover in Phoenix on my way to Las Vegas. I was on a 757, my favorite airliner. I waited until I was one of the last individuals on the plane and headed for the exit. I decided to try my luck at a flight deck visit. The Captain and First Officer were about to exit as well, and one of them stayed with me and allowed me to get my precious flight deck visit. Got some good pictures with my crappy 35mm camera. I'll never forget that pilot's name and how he was so generous to a kid like me, just out of college. I told him how much I loved the 757 and how one day I hoped to learn to fly. He encouraged me to go for it one day.About a decade later, I type this with a fresh PPL and the memory of that layover in Phoenix. Turns out my timing was perfect. That 757 was being taken out of service for the day, so I got quite a bit of time in the left seat. That pilot was so friendly and patient. He continued to walk with me in the terminal until I reached the gate area for my next flight. They're definitely not all like that. It was obvious that he cared about my interest in aviation and that he enjoyed his career. But some are just bitter because they think the glory days of aviation are over. To those individuals, you're more than welcome to take my job. :(

[bblackkbirdd 6]

Hi everyone - it's Ray Landolt (Blackbird) again.......just wanted to say thank you to everyone who shared a little bit of their experiences. Always interesting, reading about this sort of thing. I really never imagined that I would ever have the courage to approach a Captain of an airliner. It is indeed a profession that carries with it great responsibility. Someone mentioned Mike Ray - I never miss reading his wonderful articles in Computer Pilot. Great stuff!Have a good evening, everyone.......All best, Ray L.

[NGXfanatic 85]

I had the opportunity to speak with a first officer for Delta Airlines on the MD-90 recently on my vacation trip from KPHL-KMSP-KSJC. The flight from KMSP to KSJC was delayed because of an errant gear door sensor, and while the mechanics were working on fixing the issue the First Officer had joined the waiting passengers at the gate volunteering to answer any questions. I was surprised, as I thought they would delegate that responsibility to the staff at the boarding gate. He was very patient and friendly, and didn't seem to be in a rush, if anything it looked like he was trying to kill time.Once he gotten to where I was sitting, after he had explained to some other passengers they would try to make up for lost time by using tactics such as a flying a direct route, I asked him if he can bump up the cost index. Right away he was shocked, to hear this comment from a passenger, but I mentioned that I fly the "simulator" at home. I never sensed that he looked down on the flight simming, it felt like he was speaking to me as if I was a fellow line pilot, and that made the wait so much more bearable. He was proud to be flying the MD-90, saying it was a pilot's plane and that this particular bird used to fly for Scandinavian Airlines. He shared plenty of tidbits, such as the fact that the MD-90 gets dirty faster than the 757, dropping the slats at 250kts. He says that the airlines have a standard expected flight duration (in this case 4 hours for KMSP to KSJC), but they have the flexibility to use more fuel/speed if necessary to compensate for late departures. He says they would now shoot for about 3 hours 20 minutes, and sure enough, we made it at 3 hours 21 minutes! I learned so much about the MD-90 that if it wasn't for the imminent release of the NGX, I'd be trying out the Leonardo MD-80 right now! That was my first conversation with an airline pilot out in the field (apart from the usual thank you or "greaser landing" comments to the pilots at the door on arrival), and for a minute I felt like I was one of them!

[mwilk 1,111]

The thing about airline pilots is that there really no different than most people. Some of them fly because they have a passion for flying. Others fly because it's a paycheck. The majority of them a decent folks who are easy to get along with. Others are miserable sob's who like making everyone around them miserable. Fortunately, I only have to see those types for an hour at a time. I pity the crew members who have to fly with them on a four day trip.

[JD396 38]

It's nice to read stuff like this... I don't know if it's just me but I've been kind of overexposed to the "dark" side of aviation... browsing places like A.net all you find is stories of pilots whining about how much they hate their jobs. I work with a guy who flew for Pinnacle who walked away because he was tired of it... and here in the MSP area it seems every third person I know is a laid-off NW employee... so all I ever hear is how horrible it all is. That gets old in a hurry.The next time I'll be flying is probably going to be December which will be 4-6 flights in total depending on what airline I end up choosing... I'll see if I can't get a peek at the flight deck on at least one of those.

These experiences in the 1980's really gave me the 'bug' for flying....

My family went on a trip to a lake in Canada for a week around my 10th birthday... on my birthday, they paid for a seaplane to fly us around for an hour or so just for kicks. I don't really know what type of aircraft it was, but it had a single radial engine like a Beaver... anyway it had one yoke, and as the flight came to a close, the pilot slid the yoke over to my side and told me to bank it over to the right. I just about crapped myself and gently turned the yoke over... I had flown some on Flight Simulator 5 so I was as familiar as a 10 year old could be and I remember looking over at the attitude indicator and thinking how cool it all was... We turned about 180 degrees before he told me to level off, and then took over and landed back on the lake.That certainly gave me the "bug" ... though to date that's the summary of my flight experience.

Ray and Zach,You'll get that almost every time on FL. I'd say more than 95 out of 100. I work with these guys and they are among the best crews in the world.

I flew FL last August DCA-MKE-MSP after flying non-rev on DL to get there ... never flew them before and I was really impressed. It seems that a lot of times the legacy carriers end up with some "old salts" that grew tired of their jobs a long time ago.Circa 2002 I flew on a NW flight to LAS ... it came time to distribute the complementary beverages and this hag of a FA asked me what I wanted. I said I wanted a Coke... and, well you normally expect, "We have Pepsi, is that okay?" No, I got a nasty scowl and she barked "I already said you we don't have Coke, we have Pepsi, weren't you listening?" That sort of stuff sticks with you.

[NoahBryant 26]

Thanks for sharing, he sounded like a great guy.I had two similar experiences with air traffic controllers. One of them was a supervisor when I was touring a local facility. I got half a sentence into explaining what VATSIM was and she rolled her eyes and literally walked away. Some time later I toured a different facility and the gentleman I sat with was amazing. He let me plug in and sit with him for over 45 minutes, he answered all my questions, had a lot of questions of his own, and was so nice I almost thought he would let me talk on freq if I asked (but I was too chicken to ask, lol).

[brucek 38]

[Awesome thread- sometimes I get questions from flight crew if I'm disembarking and have a copy of IFR magazine in my hand :)But my best story is one in late 1993. I had been home to my native New Zealand and then visited friends in Melbourne. Flying home to Christchurch (NZCH), we happened to be going through emigration at Melbourne just behind the flight crew, who had landed, been to the briefing room and were now walking back to the aircraft (B762 or 763 of Air New Zealand). My wife and I jokingly said that we hoped that the bottle of whisky that the captain was carrying wouldn't be opened before we got there! We all laughed and struck a conversation. This was before my simming days, but I had soloed on my way to my PPL in the SFO Bay Area. They said that they would come see us on the flight, and we never thought another thing about it (flight is about 3 hours, mainly across ocean- Tasman Sea). We had just finished our meal and the FO came down the aircraft looking for us (he had written our seat assignments down back where we had the whisky conversation). I can recall that he said (in his flight uniform that had attracted much interest from surrounding passengers) that he "didn't know the aircraft went back this far"- we were at the back of coach! The looks from the other passengers hearing him say this was one of disbelief. !!Anyway, both my wife and I followed him back to the front office where we sat with them for about 30 minutes. The visit was cut short by a weather report that indicated a turn in the arrival wind at NZCH and much lower ceilings than obviously anticipated- time to get rid of the passengers from the flight deck! Both flight crew were very friendly and enjoyed showing us how the HDG function worked as they deviated off track by a small distance just to show us how it worked! I can't recall their names, other than the FO said that we would "have to suffer through one of Cal's landings", jokingly. I wish now that I knew then what I know now about this aircraft, and could have appreciated more what we were shown- I was too busy trying to master flight at minimum speed in the C152 to even be thinking about such things as large jets.Bruce.

[DeltaMD11 12]

i was in jfk and i sat down next to his table and i started talking to him and i started talking about the fmc and we got into deep conversation and he found out who the pilot was and now i am talking to two pilots and i got to go into the cockpit and name all the thing and look around it was so awesome. i recently got to go into a DELTA A330-200 (N586NW) the cockpit was huge. also been in 757 cockpit.

[JD396 38]

i was in jfk and i sat down next to his table and i started talking to him and i started talking about the fmc and we got into deep conversation and he found out who the pilot was and now i am talking to two pilots and i got to go into the cockpit and name all the thing and look around it was so awesome. i recently got to go into a DELTA A330-200 (N586NW) the cockpit was huge. also been in 757 cockpit.

Shouldn't the seat belt signs be off while they're refueling?

[yos233 1]

Shouldn't the seat belt signs be off while they're refueling?

Possibly, he might have done it just to get it out of the way for later.. When the next load of passengers board, the signs will be need to be on.

[steve inwood 67]

I went to Alicante on Ryanair back in May 2011, i tried to get a convo going with one of the pilots after we landed of course and was denied access to the cockpit ,but the pilot was more than happy to talk with me anyway.. I fly into Alicante on FSX alot with me living in the EU it's kind of one of my favourite airports ( Through Choice ) Anyhow so in regards to your post yeah i guess they are very polite and helpful. This pilot was only 30, same age as me. to think that that could be me, well i guess ill have to keep driving the forklift for a few more years :( Cheers Stevie