had a neat thing happen the other day

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We were on an Allegiant A319 charter through Apple Vacations CVG-PUJ. The captain came on the speaker before we departed, went through the normal routine, then went on to tell us the route...we would go SE to Spartanburg SC, then out over the Atlantic, cut south along the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic then due east to the airport in Punta Cana. It's the first time I'd ever had a pilot give specifics about where we're going, beyond the expected "we might hit a rough spot or two" and "winds are calm and 88 degrees at our destination". En-route, he came back on the speaker and advised that people on the right side of the plane would be able to see the Turks and Caicos for a few minutes...it was cool.
 
I actually do that quite a bit. Particularly if the route is affected by weather.

And I like to point out the Grand Canyon, or Yosemite's Half Dome, Alaska's Brooks range, that sort of thing.

Then the flight attendants call up and say that the passengers complained because I interrupted the movie they were watching on their iPad.

"Shut up pilot-boy, we are not interested, just fly us several thousand miles at 35,000 feet and several hundred miles an hour..."

Glad you liked it. Flying is taken for granted, but it's actually pretty cool. You cross a country, or an ocean, in a matter of hours. You cross several landmarks, and several weather systems, en route. But no one cares. The latest stupid video/movie, which you could see on the ground, is more important, I guess...
 
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You can also check out flightaware.com for the expected flight path, and the flight path of the same flight for days earlier if you are curious at all about your route.
 
The route may be similar, it may not.

Routes between cities vary depending on weather, and wind, and traffic flow. The farther the cities, the greater the variation.

Every day, the tracks in the North Atlantic are modified for wind and weather. So, every day, New York - London, for example, si very different.

Tracks look like this:
 
Originally Posted By: Astro14
I actually do that quite a bit. Particularly if the route is affected by weather.

And I like to point out the Grand Canyon, or Yosemite's Half Dome, Alaska's Brooks range, that sort of thing.

Then the flight attendants call up and say that the passengers complained because I interrupted the movie they were watching on their iPad.

"Shut up pilot-boy, we are not interested, just fly us several thousand miles at 35,000 feet and several hundred miles an hour..."

Glad you liked it. Flying is taken for granted, but it's actually pretty cool. You cross a country, or an ocean, in a matter of hours. You cross several landmarks, and several weather systems, en route. But no one cares. The latest stupid video/movie, which you could see on the ground, is more important, I guess...


It's not you,
It's the awful PA system
:p

P.S. how many people you see on their Ipads/monitors looking at the flight path/parameters?

P.S. BITOG Style: the wax from the Penzoil they use at the dealer is getting to their brains? :p
 
I love flightaware...that particular flight either goes right down the center of FL or zings out over the Pacific, it varies day to day. I downloaded planeslive too, it's a fun app that will tell what the closest flights to me are right now, and where they are coming from/headed.
 
On the trip back, the pilot came out of the cockpit while the door was still open, and asked if anyone wanted to stay in Punta Cana. He said "now's your last chance to run before we close the doors". If anyone is curious, it was AAY7008/7009 on the 13th and 20th. I've been on this plane before too, N326NV.
 
I've noticed that some pilots do, some don't. I guess it's up to the pilot and not a general rule of the airliner. Pretty cool for him to do that though.
 
Interesting. We had what was pretty much a touch and go landing a while back and no explanation was given. We were almost on the runway and all of a sudden the pilot gunned it and we took off again just to circle around and land like normal.
 
Originally Posted By: E150GT
Interesting. We had what was pretty much a touch and go landing a while back and no explanation was given. We were almost on the runway and all of a sudden the pilot gunned it and we took off again just to circle around and land like normal.


I've had that happen in singapore a few years back... a sudden gust of wind from the side blew us off the runway in the blink of an eye, just before touchdown
 
Originally Posted By: E150GT
Interesting. We had what was pretty much a touch and go landing a while back and no explanation was given. We were almost on the runway and all of a sudden the pilot gunned it and we took off again just to circle around and land like normal.


About 63% of airplane crashes happen during landing. A very disproportionate number if you consider the amount of time spent in other phases.

So, I would surmise that this crew did you a favor, and avoided the risk of a bad landing by going around.

A go-around creates exceptionally high workload in the cockpit. As bad as an engine failure on takeoff.

So, be doubly glad they didn't explain it and instead, focused on their primary job: flying the airplane and keeping you safe.
 
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