Any pilots here?

[timebuilder]

Son in Law was a pilot for Continental Airlines till the layed him off and your right, the pay is horrible. Unless you a captain your not getting ahead.

Not only do you have to make captain, but you have to be flying wide body equipment to make any real money. To be able to get any decent "lines," another word for flight schedules, you have to have seniority. Otherwise, you sit on reserve for what can be an eternity.

The worst lie told by the industry is that there is a "pilot shortage." There is no such thing. Whenever they don't have enough pilots, they just lower the standards.

If you are female and can land an airplane, you're in.

[maxpower]

[timebuilder]

According to horespower and speed, it might be classed as an "ultralight."

[kritic]

Cheapest way to get into flying for a career is the military first. Also if you want to go into commercial you gotta have a college degree AND keep your health up doesnt take much for them to ground you.

[BamaCool]

I let all my creds expire about 10 years ago. It just got too expensive. I use to rent a Warrior II wet for $58/hr. I have no idea what it is now. I don't know if you have one where you're at, but if you can join CAP (Civil Air Patrol), you can get alot of cheap hours in and once you get your license, you can rent the plane cheap with the only catch being that only CAP members are allowed in the plane.

[Twilly]

Twilli flew the space shuttle.

[BamaCool]

Twilli flew the space shuttle.

And he's still out there! I didn't say that out loud did I?

[fcs]

Did twilli fix the heat shield problem?

[ice machine undertaker]

From media reports I have heard over the years, I'd say that "reporter screw-up" is a likely cause.

The flat "landing" position now reported is consistent with an ice-induced stall. The question left to answer is "why."

A possible scenario:
1. The auto pilot is engaged too long while flying in icing conditions.
2. The auto pilot does its thing and compensates for changing conditions until it can no longer compensate. At that point the nose is high. Stall speed is high. Air speed is decaying. Stall warning system activated.
4. Pilots "wake up" and disengage the auto pilot?
5. If wing stall is occurring, directional control is diminished.
6. Nose is lowered to gain airspeed and losing altitude.
7. Spiral descent is common during stall recovery. Wreckage was found to be 180º from flight plan.
8. After stall recovery and increased air speed, attempt to regain altitude and direction. Wreckage was found to nearly parallel to the terrain.
9. Conclusion: Pilot errors. Improper procedures. Loss of aircraft control. Unintended impact with terrain.

[timebuilder]

A possible scenario:
1. The auto pilot is engaged too long while flying in icing conditions.
2. The auto pilot does its thing and compensates for changing conditions until it can no longer compensate. At that point the nose is high. Stall speed is high. Air speed is decaying. Stall warning system activated.
4. Pilots "wake up" and disengage the auto pilot?
5. If wing stall is occurring, directional control is diminished.
6. Nose is lowered to gain airspeed and losing altitude.
7. Spiral descent is common during stall recovery. Wreckage was found to be 180º from flight plan.
8. After stall recovery and increased air speed, attempt to regain altitude and direction. Wreckage was found to nearly parallel to the terrain.
9. Conclusion: Pilot errors. Improper procedures. Loss of aircraft control. Unintended impact with terrain.

Absolutely. Never have the AP engaged if you are in icing. In fact, I always avoided AP approaches, because they make you complacent. Complacency played a big part in this accident.

Stick shaker AND stick pusher are there to prevent a deep stall. AP disengages automatically with shaker or pusher, but the ice is still there, and directional control is lost at a relatively low altitude. No spiraling, nose-down attitude is needed for the tail to come around, just a flat spin of a plane that has lost lift and control. No stall recovery is possible from an approach altitude.

Conclusion: failure of crew to follow recommended procedures for flight in known icing conditions, leading to catastrophic loss of aircraft.

This is one for the back of FLYING.

[edward301]

I am not a licensed pilot, but have about 300 hours in the right seat of
a Barron P58, and 6 hours in the back seat of a Fouga Magister. I did
take a class on how to fly in a emergency situation.

My brother is a pilot with 8000 hours, of which 6800 hours is twin turbin.
He has his ATP, Float plane, and rotorcraft license. He did fly for UPS for
a little while, and then Flew Commuter planes for a short while.

[Tiger93rsl]

Reading all these post makes me want to finish what I started. I've always had a passion for flying. Every saturday morning in the spring we would go scout crops this was my time in the pilots seat and I really miss it. When your behind the controlls of an aircraft it's a sense of freedom that can not be replaced by anything. I feel very fortunate to have had atleast the opportunity to fly a plane, it's somthing that many people have never expierenced and thats really too bad.

[BamaCool]

Ever since I've quit, I've been wanting to get one of those powered chutes. I guy not far from me has one, he gets out and chases cows with it, looks like a blast.