Southwest Airlines Community

Raphael, A former Flight Attendant (and later SWA pilot) here was building time as a flight instructor. One of her FA friends wanted to solo a plane. She wasn't interested in getting her license, just solo. They flew a warm-up around the pattern and then Elaine got out, listening on her hand-held radio. As her friend started her takeoff roll, she inadvertantly squeezed the mic button and over El Paso Tower frequency you could hear, "OK now, Elaine would say, keep your nose up...OK.. Elaine would say get the plaps up now...OK, Elaine would say it was time to turn base now...." The lady talked her entire way around the pattern reciting what Elaine would say if she was in the plane. Upon landing, she released the mic switch. TOWER gave her loud applause. Is it any wonder that aviation is filled with so many memorable moments? Ray ... View more

Thanks folks! New York just passed their version of the "Travelers Bill Of Rights." Captain Ray's prediction: To avoid penalties, airlines will leave passengers in the airport rather than on the planes. Empty planes will be forced to push back to allow other planes to deplane. Eventually, the airport will run out of food and clean bathrooms. Travelers will be turned away from the airport because the buildings will have exceeded their "maximum allowable persons" ratings the city posts so publicly. Eventually, the airports will gridlock. Groundstops will ensue for all planes headed into NYC. And THAT will be the end of the Passenger Bill Of Rights. The only people flying that day will be from upstate or Islip! Ray ... View more

Deadheading... Routine part of the job. Always has been. Always will be. Sometime pilots are just getting to or from work (on their own time). Others are deadheading on company time between locations to either pick up another flight or to an overnight location -or home to their home base. Some are scheduled. Some are the result of aircraft taken out of service for maintenance or weather cancellations or re-routes. Ray ... View more

Kim, Nope. No special ceremony. You just show up and get in the left seat after training is all complete. Kind of like flight school in the Air Force. One day you are a student and see your name up on the flight schedule with your instructor's name. When solo day arrives, your name is all by itself. It's showtime. It's often a schizophrenic lifestyle the last few months before moving over there permanently. One day you are an FO. The next , a Captain. Then a week of FO until you can pick up another Captain trip. Some days, you don't know what you are. Ray ... View more

Arnold, Our planes stay in the U.S. but our engines (about 3/4 of them) get a vacation trip to Brazil for overhaul. The work there runs (per man-hour) 1/4 what it does in the states and is performed at the engine manufacturers facility. Word is from one of our proplusion engineers, the work performed there is far superior to what we got from in-US facilities. The workers there are highly paid relative to the local economy and they highly value the jobs they have. They take their work very seriously and very personally. So far, the number of post overhaul issues appears to be far below what we were experiencing with overhaul facilities in the US. Bottom line: Better work is simply better work. Ray. ... View more

Good Link!!! Commercial airliners use nitrogen. Nitrogen is more stable pressure-wise under temperature extremes, won't leak out through the rubber matrix (nitrogen molecules are too big to fit through, just like your car tires and another reason why Costco now fills your car tires with nitrogen), and is not flammable (inert) should the tire blow or overheat. Ray ... View more

Some people take a little longer to catch on... My wife found this in May of 2007! I had no idea it was even there! Yup, that is me. Bugs are a real "pain" in the summer months. A good size bug strike can hide an airliner or small plane heading at you. Plus, many airlines have labor contracts that prevent pilots from doing their own windshields. I like being able to do my own. (And yes, RainX works awesome thank you!) Ray ... View more

GREAT story Eric! Ray ... View more

Scott, The FARs require an alternate during certain weather conditions. In addition, if weight allows, we load extra "contingency" fuel. The flight plan knows how much HOU-DAL costs (in fuel) and it also knows DAL to the divert location, say TUL. In this case, say we have room for 4000 more lbs of fuel and we take it. Enroute to DAL, the planes get sent into holding (higher is more efficient). The pilots know how much it will take to get from the hold fix to DAL, go missed approach (the longest path) and then go to TUL and land with still a 45 minute reserve. We call this absolute minimum our "bingo" or "divert" fuel. Anything else is holding/wandering/waiting gas. Essentially, we hold or fly slow or whatever we have to do until we hit "bingo' and then we divert (unless we have landed at our intended destination first!) And that's how we do it! Ray ... View more

MM, Thanks for the correction! (How can lightning be heavy?" ;) Leah, Takeoff and landing speeds vary constantly due to the varying weight of the plane and outside air temperature. Most takeoffs are in the range of 120-160 knots. Landings are lower due to the additional flaps used during landing combined with the lighter weight of the landing due to fuel burned inflight. -120 to 140 mph. These speeds can get bumped a little due to winds at the airport. Runway used in T/O and LDG varies again due to weight and temperature with light takeoffs in a 700 in winter taking 2000-2500 feet with heavyweight summer takeoffs taking 5000 feet or more. Same with landing. Enroute "deviations" for weather are usually made on the fly by pilots. Sometimes, when arrival and departure corridors to your destination get clogged with weather, ATC can reroute you to get you in another way. That can be done prior to departure or enroute. Wheels up is usually accomplished under 100 feet right after liftoff. Gear down varies on how close the plane is to the airport and how slow the plane must fly. Usually, it goes down about 5 miles out at about 1500 feet. I have though how nice rearview mirrors would be on occasion! ;) Ray ... View more

Francisco! YOU ARE MAKING THAT UP! STOP IT! (Or your nose will grow!) I have have encountered windy conditions in ABQ during nearly every month of the year. Problem is, you NM natives don't think it gets windy until the wind hits 20 mph. ;) The N-S runway is 17-35 and it is no longer used. The jog to the right sends us over to RWY 03 which may seem like a N-S runway. It is a faster taxi to the gate than landing east and having to turn around and drive all the way back. The ear issue defies logic. Might just be an issue with small Eustachian tubes or bad luck to have minor colds you were unaware of. SAN is over 1000 feet lower than PHX so that pressurization cycle would have been more than the one into PHX. Thank you and all your shipmates for your service to our country. (My dad retired as a CPO and my brother was an Exec on a MSO.) Ray. ... View more

ABQ is a windy town! The winds are usually from the west and across the sloping plain on the west side there are a lot of rough terrain features. Then, the airport sits on the edge of the Rio Grande river valley on the edge of the eastern plain. Just east of the airport is a tall ridge of mountains that make it bumpy when the wind is blowing in nearly any direction. Additionally, you have a high density altitude airport in a mountain location which leads to nice convective (unstable air situations) activity when the wind is calmer. (Ever notice how the sun seems "hotter" or more intense at higher elevations in the summer?) The same ride complaints are common with Denver. I have been into DEN a dozen times and it was only bumpy once. Actually, I am making all this up: The pilots are just jiggling the controls to give ABQ a bad reputation. ;) Ray ... View more

I can't keep up! I am in Portland where the weather is GORGEOUS and the cherry blossoms are pink and white all around. Wow. As for cutting into foreign airspace, in ELP, they keep us on US ATC, probably by agreement with the Mexican ATC folks. I am sure our ATC can pick up the phone and call their ATC if need be. Usually, we stay in the US except when weather gets in our way. Northern tier is the same. Great Shuttle story Kim. They probably kept it on until the last minute to get extra energy -just in case! Cool! Capt. Ray Always ships PRIORITY! (I am in the habit of giving the customer more than their moneys worth. It comes from working at SWA for 20 years!) Mexico? I hope so! (Hey -we have flags on our tail for a reason.:) Ray ... View more

"Pop, when did YOU drive 500 MPH?Ã ... View more

Joseph, Anyone with a fear of flying should check out www.takingflight.us for great help, aids and tips, as well as tons of neat information designed to make your flying experience the best it can be. Try it out! And, it's free! Capt. Ray Stark ... View more

Regarding the lightning strike, no I haven't been "hit" by lightning but I have had a "static discharge" a few times which is similar but where the voltage jumps off the plane rather than onto the plane. Very loud. No static feelings at all. Blinding flash (as the nose is where the flash is designed to depart)! Some more questions: 1. Do you get bored flying the same route over and over? It doesnà ... View more

1. I wonder if thereà ... View more

Sorry! I am having real problems responding to your questions! I crafted a nice item-by-item (over an hours work!) response and the blog ate it! I'll have to do my work in Word next time and post te results from that. In the meantime, if you have any airplane questions, check out my "Ask Captain Ray forum on www.takingflight.us Thanks for your patience! Ray ... View more