"Are you a co-pilot or a real pilot?"
"So, what do you do during cruise? You'll just relax right? It's on autopilot anyway."
"Where do you fly to? Domestic or international?"
"Do you know the ticket price from KL to Phuket?"
These are the frequently asked questions whenever I meet new people, outside my uniform. It is very flattering when people are interested in your job, even if the questions seemed funny. I never blame the people asking. If I were in their shoes, I might have asked the same questions.
"Are you a co-pilot or a real pilot?"
A co-pilot is also a pilot. The question "Are you a co-pilot or a real pilot?" is kind of dysphemistic sometimes, because it is like not recognizing us as also a pilot. In MAS, the co-pilots have 3 ranks. Cadet, Second Officer and First Officer. Cadet being the lowest, First Officer being the highest. Either from the three can sit on the right and act as a co-pilot. So, the question should be, "Are you a co-pilot or a Captain?". The Captain always sits on the left, except in special cases where the flight is operated by two Captains. In this case, the Captain sitting on the left will always be the Pilot In Command (PIC).
The co-pilot is the second in command after the Captain. We are capable of flying the plane starting from take off until landing. If we have an unexpected emergency like the Captain being incapacitated, the co-pilot will take command and resume the flight. We are trained to fly the plane alone until the plane lands. However, help from the cabin crew or any qualified pilot(if luckily on board as a passenger) would be a bonus.
During normal flights, flying the plane is more of a two men operations even though the Captain is the boss. The Captain and the co-pilot will always cross- check each other in whatever they are doing. Some people think that only the Captain, who does the take off and landing. That is wrong. The co-pilot does it too, in normal operations. Just before the flight, the Captain will decide on who will be flying(doing the take off and landing and managing the flight controls) to the destination. After take off and after engaging the autopilot, any changes to the input of the automation is done by the pilot flying while the other guy will monitor the radio and make radio calls to the tower controller. As a passenger on board, how do you know who's flying? The way to know is by listening to the announcement made by the pilot. Normally, the pilot flying will make the announcement on board to the passengers.
"So, what do you do during cruise? You'll just relax right? It's on autopilot anyway."
During cruise, the phase of the flight is pretty reposeful. However, the crew must monitor and check crucial items such as the fuel to the destination, the bad weather ahead, alternate airports if in case an emergency occur, the engines indications and etc. It becomes more stressful when entering and arriving at busy airports where you have to think about slowing down while descending with so many other planes just inches away, landing at the same airport. If thunderstorm clouds are everywhere, the approach becomes tougher and we must deviate from the clouds as well as abiding the speed control rules in certain airports. If we make any mistakes, it would jeopardize the flight.
"Where do you fly to? Domestic or international?"
If you flip through the Going Places magazine whenever you're in a MAS flight, at the last page, there will be details of the type of planes owned by MAS. It starts from Boeing 737-400 up to Boeing 747-400. There is no specific plane that flies only domestic routes and international routes. All the planes fly both, domestic and international. The only differences is whether the destination is far or not. Like the Boeing 737-400, it covers mostly the domestic routes like to Terengganu, Sabah, Penang, Sarawak and so on. For international flights, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia and etc. Bigger planes cover longer routes like to the Middle East, Europe, North America and South America.
So, the question should be, "How far have you gone?" or "What aircraft are you flying?"
Some people have the mentality that 'international' means outside of South East Asia. So,in this case, to shorten the conversation, I usually would answer "international".
"Do you know the ticket price from KL to Phuket?"
Flying the airplane does not make us experts in knowing the ticket price for any flight. Questions about prices should be referred to the ground staff or you can just dial 03-78433000 for the hotline or click on www.malaysiaairlines.com for price and flight details. We(the pilots) wouldn't know unless that particular pilot likes to travel on a regular basis for holiday.
"So, what do you do during cruise? You'll just relax right? It's on autopilot anyway."
"Where do you fly to? Domestic or international?"
"Do you know the ticket price from KL to Phuket?"
These are the frequently asked questions whenever I meet new people, outside my uniform. It is very flattering when people are interested in your job, even if the questions seemed funny. I never blame the people asking. If I were in their shoes, I might have asked the same questions.
"Are you a co-pilot or a real pilot?"
A co-pilot is also a pilot. The question "Are you a co-pilot or a real pilot?" is kind of dysphemistic sometimes, because it is like not recognizing us as also a pilot. In MAS, the co-pilots have 3 ranks. Cadet, Second Officer and First Officer. Cadet being the lowest, First Officer being the highest. Either from the three can sit on the right and act as a co-pilot. So, the question should be, "Are you a co-pilot or a Captain?". The Captain always sits on the left, except in special cases where the flight is operated by two Captains. In this case, the Captain sitting on the left will always be the Pilot In Command (PIC).
The co-pilot is the second in command after the Captain. We are capable of flying the plane starting from take off until landing. If we have an unexpected emergency like the Captain being incapacitated, the co-pilot will take command and resume the flight. We are trained to fly the plane alone until the plane lands. However, help from the cabin crew or any qualified pilot(if luckily on board as a passenger) would be a bonus.
During normal flights, flying the plane is more of a two men operations even though the Captain is the boss. The Captain and the co-pilot will always cross- check each other in whatever they are doing. Some people think that only the Captain, who does the take off and landing. That is wrong. The co-pilot does it too, in normal operations. Just before the flight, the Captain will decide on who will be flying(doing the take off and landing and managing the flight controls) to the destination. After take off and after engaging the autopilot, any changes to the input of the automation is done by the pilot flying while the other guy will monitor the radio and make radio calls to the tower controller. As a passenger on board, how do you know who's flying? The way to know is by listening to the announcement made by the pilot. Normally, the pilot flying will make the announcement on board to the passengers.
"So, what do you do during cruise? You'll just relax right? It's on autopilot anyway."
During cruise, the phase of the flight is pretty reposeful. However, the crew must monitor and check crucial items such as the fuel to the destination, the bad weather ahead, alternate airports if in case an emergency occur, the engines indications and etc. It becomes more stressful when entering and arriving at busy airports where you have to think about slowing down while descending with so many other planes just inches away, landing at the same airport. If thunderstorm clouds are everywhere, the approach becomes tougher and we must deviate from the clouds as well as abiding the speed control rules in certain airports. If we make any mistakes, it would jeopardize the flight.
"Where do you fly to? Domestic or international?"
If you flip through the Going Places magazine whenever you're in a MAS flight, at the last page, there will be details of the type of planes owned by MAS. It starts from Boeing 737-400 up to Boeing 747-400. There is no specific plane that flies only domestic routes and international routes. All the planes fly both, domestic and international. The only differences is whether the destination is far or not. Like the Boeing 737-400, it covers mostly the domestic routes like to Terengganu, Sabah, Penang, Sarawak and so on. For international flights, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia and etc. Bigger planes cover longer routes like to the Middle East, Europe, North America and South America.
So, the question should be, "How far have you gone?" or "What aircraft are you flying?"
Some people have the mentality that 'international' means outside of South East Asia. So,in this case, to shorten the conversation, I usually would answer "international".
"Do you know the ticket price from KL to Phuket?"
Flying the airplane does not make us experts in knowing the ticket price for any flight. Questions about prices should be referred to the ground staff or you can just dial 03-78433000 for the hotline or click on www.malaysiaairlines.com for price and flight details. We(the pilots) wouldn't know unless that particular pilot likes to travel on a regular basis for holiday.
2 comments:
abg pilot penah x sesat masa bwk kpal tebang?
hehe.
ada GPS...tarak hal punya...
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