Most airlines are doing what RyanAir do and that's sticking a passenger to the outside of the fuselage with a magical GPU cable

 

I heard they're replacing last 1/3 of the seats with excercise bikes. When it's time to light the fires, they just yell "PEDAL!" over the PA. It sounds terrible, but you get a small discount if you purchase a bike ticket.

 

 

So it's up to the airline if they take ground power or run APU? Interesting. I always thought it was SOP to pull up to the gate and take ground power.

 

Aviation is not as regimented as people think.  When I was with Independence Air, a normal procedure (not necessarily written in the SOP, but adopted as a cost saving measure in somewhat of a company-wide NOTAM) was to land, taxi off with no APU, kill the number 1 engine, park the aircraft, wait for ground power to be connected, jump straight to ground power, and kill the number 2 engine.  The APU would only be used on the outbound leg to cool/warm the aircraft (our gates didn't have conditioned air), for usually no more than 15 min prior to boarding.

 

 

 

I assume that's done just to supplement the power until the ground crew can put the plug in.

 

Essentially, yes.  Many airlines, overly safety minded as they are, don't like the risk associated with turning engines and rampies being near them.  Therefore, they tell all rampies not to approach the aircraft until the engines are off and the beacon stops flashing.  That requires a gap between engine cutoff and GPU availability.

 

 

 

The tech ops forum on airliners.net is a great place, but the real pilots can be very abrupt by detailed questions if they know it's for a flight simmer. So I like picking up these small details over here.

 

The fact that a.net charges for forum access has kept me away.  There are several other forums out there that are much better and don't charge for anything.  In any of the cases, I tend to stay away from those forums.  First, the attitude and doom-n-gloom in a lot of them is tough to sit through day in and day out.  Second, simmers and new pilots often get a terrible picture of aviation from them (still love all of the members shouting "give up, and don't go into aviation," yet they continue to fly).  Third, as much as you'd think people know what they're talking about over there, because it's an real world aviation forum, many still don't.  Just because they fly for an airline doesn't mean they're knowledgeable in all aspects of aviation, as some would assert.

 Just because they fly for an airline doesn't mean they're knowledgeable in all aspects of aviation, as some would assert.

 

Oh you have the right - for sure. And you should see the blow-up of frustration when a Flight Simmer corrects an old crusty airline pilot.

When I lived in Memphis, I played Ice Hockey with a large group of FedEx pilots and they were a great source of information (and plenty of time in their simulators).

It might be worth a visit to see if any of those guys have moved from the MD-11/A300 to the T7.

Hell - it might be worth moving back to Memphis.

And you should see the blow-up of frustration when a Flight Simmer corrects an old crusty airline pilot.

 

I've participated in a couple of my own, usually on the short end of someone's hours argument, as if hours were the only thing that mattered.

 

 

 

When I lived in Memphis, I played Ice Hockey with a large group of FedEx pilots and they were a great source of information (and plenty of time in their simulators).

 

I've been trying to get back into hockey, but it seems that most of the rinks are cancelling pick-up sessions left and right for some reason or another.  Goalies usually play for free, too, which I'm always down for.

 

I actually flew myself and a friend down for the 'canes and Rangers game two weekends ago.  Ugly game, but it was a good experience.

Gas (or petrol) in Ireland is ~ €1.60 per litre

1 litre / US gallon = 0.26

That's €6.15 per gallon

That's about $8 per gallon.

 

 

although Qatar shuts down the APU during their turn at our terminal.

here in houston (KIAH) the few times i do morning flights (UPS) I notice that there is this QATAR 777 that comes in early morning 2 to 3 am that runs the APU for the 2 hour turn . my last flight after i did a walk around i talked to one of the ramp guys that also do the Qatar 777 and they had told me that must of the times they pull out the GPU but not used at all .....

Our mainline brethren on the other hand ran their APU's like it doesn't cost anything even on those 777's that sit at the gate for their entire 2-3 hour turn

 

 

Hi,

 

If I'm not wrong, the use of APU at gate is regulated at many airport in term of duration. I can remember reading in noise procedures of some airports that APU are to be shut at latest xxx minutes after arrival and at earliest xxx min before departure.

Are they some airports allowing the use of the APU during a long turn?

 

 

If I'm not wrong, the use of APU at gate is regulated at many airport in term of duration.

 

This is not normal in the United States.  In Europe, I've seen it frequently.

ORD has no restrictions on APU usage as far as I know which is good during our very hot and humid summers.

Unless it's absolutely required (A/C needed or no GPU available), BRU also restricts APU usage to a minimum. (15 minutes before, and ±10 minutes after a flight, IIRC)

Let me just say that if you work in the US be very, very, thankful about our lax APU regulations. I was in a 777 tonight that had the APU shut down with ground air connected but the cabin was still very stuffy and stagnant even though it was only ~80*F outside, the mechanics eventually had enough of working in the heat so they cranked up the APU and brought much needed relief. The jetbridge is rather new so the PCA system should have been in good condition but the air may have warmed up in the hose.

 

 

Let me just say that if you work in the US be very, very, thankful about our lax APU regulations.

 

Agreed.  I'd also go further and say we should be thankful for our comparatively less invasive regulations all around.  Granted, we have some disadvantages (the August ATP requirement to sit right seat for Part 121 and 135, as an example), but by and large, we have it good.