Q: What do you do as a first time flyer?
A: Stay hydrated. 1 bottle per hour that you are flying. Most airlines will have the seatbelt sign on for the first and last 30 minutes of the flight. Load up on vitamins or immune boosters. You might be in contact with someone who has a cold. Give yourself plenty of time before your flight’s departure time.
Q: Best place to sit to survive a crash?
A: Statistically, it’s in the back of the airplane.
Q: What can I do when I am afraid of flying?
A: If you are a first-time flyer and want to see how to fly, go to a local airport and you can find an intro to flying or flight class.
Q: Do air pockets exist?
A: No, they do not. That is not a real term.
Q: Is it true that turbulence does not cause plane crashes?
A: Yes. Also, you will usually have a smoother ride if you fly out in the mornings.
Q: Do big planes have four engines?
A: Not necessarily. Back in the day, it was very common and 747’s had four engines, but more engines use more gas.
Q: What about peanut allergies?
A: Airlines take that seriously, and you can call ahead of time and let them know you will be on the flight and have a peanut allergy.
Q: Are EpiPens on board?
A: They are.
Q: Can you take batteries in your bags?
A: Yes, you can. You have to take them out of your electronics and put them in a separate bag.
Q: Can you take alcohol in a checked bag?
A: As long as it’s sealed in its original container.
Q: Can you take service dogs?
A: You can take your service dog onboard as long as you have some recommendation from your doctor and you take all those documents.
Q: What are the best things to take for your kids on the plane?
A: Do curbside check in, take your car seat and gate-check it so you can have it on the plane. Get a harness to buckle your child if they are more than 2 years old and have their own seat. Harnesses are better than a car seat for older children 3-9 years of age. Take sippy cups that are empty and fill them with water after the security check. Go to the dollar store and stock up on small toys the kids haven’t seen before so they have a whole new set of toys on the plane. Pack snacks. Take an extra set of clothes for the kids and for you. On the safe side, put a “pull-up” on your small child just in case. Don’t let your kids eat food right off the seatback trays; they are never cleaned. Take headphones for your children.
Q: Can you breastfeed and take breastmilk pumping equipment?
A: Yes, you can breastfeed and take any equipment on board considered medical equipment. Breastmilk is not a carry-on item.
Q: What if you have a baby in a carrier?
A: It’s safer to hold your baby than to have your baby attached to your body in a carrier. Flight attendants will ask you to hold your baby when boarding and will explain why.
Q: Are the blankets on the plane clean?
A: No, they are not sanitary. So, bring your own blanket. They are usually just thrown away and never washed.
Q: Do planes have WiFi?
A: Many airlines have WiFi, but not all of them.
Q: Why would the WiFi not work?
A: It happens. If the WiFi is not working and you pay for it, call the number on the email and get your money back. Most WiFi devices on a plane have two antennas for you to pick up, usually in the front and in the back. The best spots to get a good connection are in the front and the back of the plane.
Q: Do you have to put your name tag on luggage?
A: Putting your name on your stuff is a great idea.
Q: Can you lock your suitcase that you’re checking?
A: You can. It has to be a TSA-approved lock. Check TSA.gov for more info. The TSA will have a master key that can get into your luggage.
Q: Do cell phones really cause issues with the plane’s navigation?
A: Actually, I did a case study in college, and the answer is sometimes. Old airplanes used older technology to tell where they were going – most aircraft now rely on GPS, which is much more accurate. Basically, the root of this is anything with a battery, anything electronic, has a little magnetic field around it that the battery produces. There have been cases in the past with bigger laptops that interfered with the navigation of planes. That’s why the rule was put in place, but I think they are starting to relax those.
Q: How do you navigate a plane?
A: We basically have a series of points that are geographically defined with a latitude and longitude that is called a fix. We tell the plane to go to all those points. We use our lateral navigation on the aircraft to go from A to B.
Q: How do you make up time and why would it make a difference?
A: Those dots we fly through from A to B aren’t always a straight line and sometimes will have an air space issue that includes somewhere we are not allowed to go or a military area where we can’t go and sometimes we can. If we work with ATC (Air Traffic Control) and it’s available, we can cut some of those curbs off and that would shave off a few minutes. Obviously, flying the plane faster would shave off a few minutes, too, but there goes all your fuel efficiency. All these speeds and altitudes are highly calculated. We really try to follow those.
Q: How long can you fly?
A: There are FAA regulations about actual flight times for a day, a week, a month and so on. There is also a duty time requirement of when we actually show up at the airport and when we have to be done. Those are very strict and monitored by computer software and the company. You get notifications of when you are getting close to limits. Once in awhile you hear about or you might be unfortunate to be on a plane when there is a big snowstorm or something like that and your pilot is on “time out” – they basically ran out of time and will not make it all the way to the destination and be off duty within the allotted time. There are hard fast hours, too, that will change by the number of hours you are going to fly and when you actually started your day.
Q: Why do trays and seats have to be up during takeoff and landing?
A: The trays can actually impale you upon impact. The seats go back up so that you are provided more room for evacuation if needed, same with the bags under your seat.
Q: Do engines blow up?
A: It does happen but highly unlikely. Usually you have at least two or more engines on an aircraft, and all planes are certified to fly with one motor. And we are all very highly trained.
Q: Do planes have backup generators?
A: Yes, we do. Most airplanes do, and it’s called an auxiliary power unit or APU, and it can supply electrical power and pneumatics to the aircraft. Pneumatics is basically just air you would use to start an engine or for heating and cooling purposes. Other bigger aircraft actually have devices that can come out like a windmill and get into the slipstream and provide electric or even hydraulic power, too.
Q: Do you carry extra fuel?
A: This is all regulation information. We carry enough fuel for 45 minutes past your destination with good weather. If you have a bad weather report, you will need extra fuel to go to an additional airport. They tack on extra fuel for that. You usually don’t run out of gas.
Q: What is coasting?
A: Let’s just say you’re at altitude, that can be in the mid 30’s or 40,000 feet. If you lose both motors, typically you’re going to coast and the distance will have to do with the temperature outside and the winds and everything else, but three miles per thousand feet is average. Based on that, if you are at altitude and you lost both motors, you can glide for about 80 miles. There have been some cases in the past where fuel calculations were incorrect and planes have had to coast.
Q: What is your maintenance?
A: There are various levels, A, B, C check. Every time a plane goes into a base, maintenance does their own inspections.
Q: Do you both work the same flight?
A: We used to. Now that would make no sense.
Q: What’s the funniest thing that has ever happened?
A: Someone brought their service pony on the airplane. Someone brought a Jesus statue and bought a ticket for it and had it buckled in. I thought that was sweet.
Q: Are there crazies on the plane like in “Bridesmaids?”
A: Yeah, there are crazies out there.
Q: Can you smoke on the plane?
A: No! Back in the day, you used to be able to smoke on the plane, and it’s really fun to listen to the old stories from old flight attendants who have been on forever. Now, no smoking of any kind.
Q: What’s the most dangerous, taking off or landing?
A: Whenever you’re close to the ground, that is the most dangerous.
Pro Tip: Don’t ever ask the flight attendant if you could go to the bathroom. You can read between the lines…we are not going to fight you. When you ask us, we will be in a weird situation. Nobody wants to be in a weird situation. If you gotta go, you gotta go! We have to cover ourselves. Those seatbelt signs are on per protocol.
This Q and A was transcribed from a video Scott and Melissa put together – view the full video online here: http://nonahood.to/airflight
