This DVD continues on with airplane information to help ease the imagination.
Takeoff
Capt. Bunn explains how easy take-off is...you go straight down the runway, at V1, you take your hand off the throttle and put it on the wheel. And then there is another speed called Vr and this is the point when the nose comes back. Then the nose comes up about 12 degrees above the horizon, the airplane comes off the runway and then the pilot is aiming for a speed called V2 which is the speed they climb upward (about 160-170mph), once they get into the air. They fly at V2 to go up as fast as they can as high off the runway and then they tell the co-pilot they're going to reduce power and they cut the thrust by about 1/2. Now the plane can't fly as steeply so they bring the nose down in order to make less noise for people living near the airport.
When the airplane nose comes down, it's like being in an elevator...you feel a little lightheaded. I know this feeling well and it scares me every time, but this explanation helps it make more sense. :) The plane is NOT falling, it's just slowing down it's climb.
Takeoff is Simple
Capt. Bunn tells a quick story of how he used to run his program at an airport and at one time had a class member go into the simulator and attempt to simulate a takeoff of a Boeing 747. He said it took this person just TWO minutes to get the takeoff correct. That's how easy takeoff is.
Stair Stepping
Once the plane takes off, it may be cleared by air traffic control to continue on up to cruising altitude of around 33,000 feet. But what if there is some traffic in the way? The plane may not be able to do a straight climb. Instead, you may climb up to 11,000 feet, level off for a while, climb to 17,000 feet, level off for a while, climb to 23,000 feet, level off for a while, then climb to 33,000 feet. This is HUGE for me. I had no idea this happened. Before Capt. Bunn even says it, I know what this feels like...each time the plane levels off, there is a feeling one gets in the plane. If this keeps continuing, it can be scary. But now it makes sense! It's similar to an elevator going up and stopping at floors. As the plane levels out, you feel lightheaded, then when you start going up again, you feel heavier in your seat and you hear more noise from the engines. This same thing happens as you come down from cruising altitude. Stair stepping up, stair stepping down. Completely routine.
Why Engines Last So Long
When engines are made, they are made for both civilian and military purposes. Capt. Bunn gives some information about how engines are rated. And how to make things simple, the engine manufacturers say that the engine operates at 100% power. Military aircraft run the engines at that 100% power in peace time. In war time, they push the engines to 103-104%. But commercial airlines use 93% power for takeoff and 88% for cruising. Capt. Bunn states the engine is "just completely loafing" and that's why engines last forever and are not under stress.
Drop 15 Feet Onto Strut
Capt. Bunn shows a picture of a plane strut and explains that the landing gear is built so strongly that it could be lifted 15-20 feet off the ground and just dropped to the ground hundreds of time and do absolutely no damage whatsoever to the airplane. That's how strong they are built. You couldn't do that to your car once.
Dispatch
Ahhh...weather. A biggee of mine. Capt. Bunn says that many people he works with in this program are afraid of weather, but that it's something that is planned for in every flight. He explains there is a dispatcher who plans the flight. Every airline has an FAA licensed and certified dispatcher assigned to each flight. The dispatcher's job is to look into the computerized flight planner which has the winds coded into it for the plane's route and then decide which is the best route to take from point A to point B. The dispatcher then has to determine if there is any weather along the way which could cause problems. If the weather is not good at the destination airport, there is always an alternate airport designated for landing if needed. To figure the fuel of the flight, there must be enough for the standard flight PLUS any needed to go to the alternate airport, PLUS enough to hold for 30 minutes in addition to an extra 10% in the mail fuel allotted in case the winds slow down the plane a bit. There is a lot of extra fuel in the airplane.
At any time in the flight, the pilot can punch in the code for an airport and 8 seconds later it will tell the pilot what the weather is like for that airport and it tells them what the forecast is as well.
The dispatcher also checks NOTAMs which stands for Notices to Airmen and what this tells them is whether or not there is any equipment at any of the potential airports for the flight or even along the way that might affect the safety of the flight. So once the dispatcher completely plans the flight and the pilot reviews this, both the dispatcher AND the captain of the flight must certify the flight plan. Both have to sign that the flight can be done safely considering all the factors involved in the flight.
Why did I actually think that pilots just showed up for work on got on the plane and flew it without having actually researched each trip? I can see now how that couldn't possibly be true, but I think I actually believed that in the past. The more you know...the less the anxiety! :)
Complete Flight
So...moving on from the last section...the flight is certified and now the pilots are approaching the plane. One of the pilots is going to enter the airplane and check all the switches and gauges. Another pilot is going to check the outside of the airplane. The pilot inside the plane is also going to check the maintenance log to see what has been worked on the plane and make sure everything has been signed off. Then both pilots sit down at their respective stations (captain on the left, co-pilot on the right) and they each go through all the switches they are responsible for. Pilots have a specific pattern they go through when looking at their switches. After this is done, according to the pattern, one of the pilots takes out the checklist. One pilot then reads the first item on the checklist (which will have a switches name), the other pilot looks at that switch, touches that switch and says where that switch is and it has to match up. The pilots continue this pattern through the entire checklist.
Next, they call air traffic control and they find out if the plan the dispatcher filed with air traffic control is okay with air traffic control (it almost always is). They will then give approval for the flight. They also give a departure routing which will be different depending on which runway is used. Then they are given an initial altitude that they are cleared to fly to. This way if there is any loss of radio communication for a moment, the pilots know what altitude they absolutely have clearance to fly to.
Then the pilots make sure all the doors are closed and check with the flight attendants to make sure they're ready to go and check with the ground crew and then the pilots start the engines. The plan is pushed back by the ground crew. Capt. Bunn then goes on to mention that sometimes people get concerned because they see a light flash or the lights flicker during this process. YES! I know exactly what he means! But he explains that this is not a problem because sometimes the plane is switching from external to internal power. The plane may be plugged into a local utility when on the runway and sometimes, just like when you unplug something at home, other lights will flicker. THIS again is HUGE information for me!! :)
Sometimes people are concerned because it takes a while to get the engine to start. He says there are various reasons for this, but once the engine is started, IT IS STARTED. There is no need to have any concern about the safety of the engine once it is started. This again is a big deal for me because, of course, I have driven many cars and at times, the engine is hard to start and then it runs for a minute or two and dies again or dies at an intersection. This doesn't happen with plane engines. Planes are safer than cars! And I drive a car almost EVERY DAY!
Once the engine is started, you get clearance to taxi to the holding point on the runway, then they switch to the tower frequency, they will tell you when you are cleared onto the runway to either hold or takeoff. You line up with the runway...if you're cleared to take off, you push the throttles up and head down the runway and takeoff as we have learned.
All the way through the flight, the pilots are monitoring the weather and listening to air traffic control. All the pilots in the same area are on the same frequencies so if there is some turbulence ahead, another pilot will mention it which will give air traffic control some time to figure out if there is some other path the plane can take to get around it. When you get to destination airport area, you check the weather and the runway, then you're cleared to descend. If the weather is fine, the pilot can make a visual landing. If the weather is less than perfect, the pilots have other options.
Until about the 1980s there were different rules about how low the clouds could be when it came to landing the plane, but now there is new technology that allows the clouds to be much lower to the runway and still have a safe landing. The clouds can be about 100ft above the runway and there be just 1/8 of a mile of visibility for landing. In this case though, the airplane is on autopilot which is hooked up to signals from the runway touch point. There are actually two or three autopilots plus a device that compares the autopilots to make sure they're all showing the same information.
There is also something called CAT III which was developed primarily by the British as they tend to have pretty bad weather in London. Capt. Bunn says CAT III has such precision in sending the signals from the runway and you have 2 or 3 autopilots each running from a different power source that the pilot is allowed to touch down on the runway without the pilot having seen it. GULP! Capt. Bunn goes on to say this is rare and that in his career he only made 2 CAT III landings. He admits that for pilots, it's an eerie thing to have landed without seeing the runway and having the airplane controlling the pilot, BUT...it works if necessary and is totally safe.
Capt. Bunn goes on to say that all of this is exact and precise and that pilots don't need to fudge anything. They don't have to land faster or earlier. They get paid exactly the same no matter where they land. It's not like in a car when the speed limit is 60 and we drive 70. If the speed limit was 60 in a plane, they go 60. Period.
Who Does Landing?
The captain and co-pilot switch off landings so each makes every other landing. Most co-pilots are captain qualified. On overseas flights, that is a requirement. Capt. Bunn then brings up the idea of alcohol. Years ago, pilots would work with each other if they knew another pilot had been drinking because they knew they'd be fired if they were caught. They just wouldn't have that pilot take the controls during a flight. However, over the years, corporations began to take a different view and what they set up was that if there was an alcohol problem, they would work with the pilot instead of immediately firing them. Thus, the union worked with the company and they quit covering for pilots and would instead turn them into the union and knew they would get help and not be fired.
When a pilot doesn't feel well and calls in sick there are always other pilots on standby to take over.
Noises
Yay! Noises! This is another big issue for me so I'm looking forward to some discussion on this.
* When you're taxiing out, sometimes you'll hear groaning sounds and Capt. Bunn says that's just because the brakes make those noises in different temperatures. Nothing to worry about. I know my car brakes make noises based on temperature as well and it doesn't keep me from driving my car.
* When the plane is going down the runway, the nose gear is sometimes bumping against lights imbedded in the runway and you hear it get faster as you go down the runway. This is normal. I can relate this to driving over a bridge and the expansion joints. A lot of pilots will move the plane just off center so you don't feel this, but if you do it's completely normal.
* When the nose gear goes up and the main gear goes off the runway and the strut goes out to full travel, it makes a clunk that you might hear if you're sitting near the gear area. But then as the pilot calls for the gear to go up, you'll hear some noise that sounds like water is going through pipes because hydraulic fluid is running through actuators to bring the gear up and then you hear a "ker-plunk" as the gear plunks into place and then another clunk as the doors that cover the gear clunk into place and lock.
* As the flaps on the wing go up, you hear a noise like a blender. The mechanism that runs the flaps up and down sounds like a blender.
* On the leading edge of the wings, there are flaps to make them bigger when landing. As the flaps are moving, it sounds (or sort of feels) like you're driving over a steel grated road. I imagine this to be like driving over patches on the Hood Canal Floating Bridge. Another time you'd get rumbling would be if air traffic control needs the plane to descend steeply or slow down, there are panels that go straight up on the wing called speed brakes which are also used after the airplane lands to get rid of the lift to put more weight on the wheels. If the speed brakes go up, you'll feel a rumbling (and/or hear it).
Chimes
Ah, I love this...I read a book prior to flying two years ago that discussed the chimes on a plane and I was obsessed with them. Capt. Bunn says that every airline has different signals so you can't depend on a standard number of chimes. He says "Dont' assume ringing of chimes means anything at all". Generally, if the captain wants to discuss a situation with the flight attendants, he or she will call the lead flight attendant into the cockpit and then brief that flight attendant who will then go back and brief the other flight attendants. After that is done, the pilot will make an announcement. People say that seems to take a lot of time and Capt. Bunn says it does because when there is an "emergency" on a plane, there is generally nothing immediate that needs to happen. This makes me think of discussing cesarean birth with childbirth classes. Most people imagine what they see on TV...people rushing, tension, stress and chaos. That's not how it generally happens. Capt. Bunn states that "Emergencies and abnormal situations are dealt with slowly and methodically". He goes on to say if you see a flight attendant rushing about, it may have nothing to do with the plane but instead with flight service.
Safest Place to Sit
The safest place to sit on airplane is at an emergency exit. Impact is rarely what causes people to die in an airplane accident...it's instead, usually smoke. Thus the exits are the way out. He mentions there is a $50 smoke mask you can buy and take with you on the flight. I am going to look that up. Just one more little thing for me to feel comfortable about.
What does it mean when the seat belt sign is turned on? Another big question of mine!! It usually just means there is some turbulence, but "it NEVER means that there is any danger, whatsoever". I'm repeating that for myself, "It NEVER means that there is any danger, whatsoever".
Break A Wing?
Many people get concerned that a wing might break in turbulence. Wings are made to bend. Capt. Bunn states that he could go out to a plane and with his hand pull on the wing and flex it. It is supposed to flex and that's what makes it strong. Capt. Bunn shares a story of the 747 and how Boeing decided to see what it would take to break a wing. In order to break the wing they had to bend the wing at the tip between 28-29 FEET before it would break. Capt. Bunn says that you won't see 28-29 INCHES of flex on an airplane wing.
GPWS
Another safety device Capt. Bunn shares to provide us with some confidence. The Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS). The GPWS gives a warning...a flashing red light and a voice actually says "Pull Up! Pull Up! Pull Up!" . This was implemented in the 70s and since that time, controlled flight into the ground has been taken care of.
Lightning
Yay! Another one of my fears being addressed...just one after the other. :)
Capt. Bunn says to think about our car and how it is insulated from the ground by the rubber tires, so you're safe in your car when you're in lightning. All you need is insulation. In a plane, air in the insulation. Lightning is not a problem for an airplane either. IF lightning does strike a plane, you'll just get a little burn mark on the entrance and exit points. Momentarily it could case the lights to blink or go out because there are protective circuits that will shut down the lights but they'll come right back on. Thus, lightning is simply not a problem for the airplane.
Just like that... :)
Reviewing Airplane Controls
Capt. Bunn reviews what has been discussed by showing a real airplane at the museum. He shows the wings (and how he can simply pull on them) and how they work. For the visual learner this is quite helpful!
Airplane Simulation
Capt. Bunn and his camera man are now sitting in a simulator. He can now show exactly what it looks like in the cockpit. He shows hands on the throttle until V1 and then removing his hand off the throttle and put it on the wheel, at Vr, he brings the wheel back and the nose goes up in the air and shows how he brings the plane up to about 800ft and pulls back the throttle while pushing the nose down and how it's all routine.
He then gets a close shot of the instruments and gauges so we can see what the pilot sees and how the pilot knows exactly the descent rate and how to land safely.
Body Tension
Capt. Bunn is now sitting in a simulated plane seat to discuss body tension. He discusses that we sit in a 1G position all the time. When we get tense on a plane, he discusses again how some of that weight gets put in our legs and arms. He shows a great visual of someone tense in a seat with legs tightened and arms gripping the arm rest. You can actually see him lift off the seat. It makes complete sense! This makes us feel like we are going down! As he discussed earlier, he shows us how to recalibrate our instrument by taking our feet off the floor and taking our arms off the arm rests (he has his crossed across his chest) before the plane takes off. Then as you are flying, if you feel like the plane is falling, you re-assume this position and compare with the calibration you did on the ground to help you know what the plane is really doing.
And that ends this DVD. So much great information!!! And still 7 DVDs to go! But, wow, these first four have done an enormous amount for me AND I had already read his entire book, so even after having read the book, these DVDs were worth it!!
The next four DVDs are all about The Control of Anxiety. And I'm ready! :)
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