r/AskAPilot

I’m curious how strict commercial aviation safety standards really are, but translated into something most people can relate to.

If we applied roughly the same philosophy and standards used in commercial aviation to cars, what would that actually look like?

For example, would your car effectively be inspected before every drive, with certain parts replaced on strict schedules regardless of whether they seemed fine?

More broadly, how different would owning and driving a car be if it were regulated, maintained and operated like a commercial aircraft?

I’d love to hear the comparisons that pilots think best illustrate just how differently aviation approaches safety.

Every time I go down the aviation rabbit hole, I read/hear about this again… apparently JFK Air Traffic Control is known to be intimidating, dismissive, sometimes outright rude.

1. Is this true?

2. If true, how is this possible? Shouldn’t air traffic communication be regulated to an extent that doesn’t leave room for this? It sounds like a safety gap if pilots are afraid to ask for something they might need from air traffic control.

Qu’est ce qui vous fais laisser tomber votre rêve de devenir pilote de ligne?

Bonjour,

Je suis ingénieur mécanique Ensam Arts et métiers, j’ai 33 ans j’ai longtemps rêver de devnir pilote de ligne, j’ai voulu me lancer dans le modulaire, mais ûe fois que j’ai pris conscience des sommes de la formation ca m’a refroidit, sachant que je suis père de famille et j’ai déjà une carriere dans l’automobile comme ingénieur, et vous qu’est ce qui vous a refroidit pour poursuivre le rêve de devenir pilote?

Hey everyone, I’m planning out my path to a DGCA CPL and want a reality check on a hyper-optimized timeline I’ve put together. I graduated high school this year with Physics/Math, and I turn 18 in December 2027. My absolute main goal is to keep costs under ₹35 Lakh and get my license as efficiently as possible without wasting time.

Here is the exact blueprint I am looking at:

• Phase 1: Pre-18 Prep (Mid-2027): Get my Computer Number, clear Class 2 and Class 1 medicals early to beat the IAF waitlists. Self-study for the 3 core DGCA exams (Regs, Nav, Met) and clear them in the Sept 2027 cycle right before I turn 18. Apply for the South African student visa and pre-clear SACAA background checks from India.
• Phase 2: Foreign Flight Sprint (Jan 2028 – June 2028): Land in SA right after turning 18. Wire a 100-hour upfront block payment to get a bulk discount on a Cessna 152 (bypassing the C172 entirely to save money). I want to fly an aggressive but realistic schedule—about 35 to 40 hours a month—to knock out the 200 hours in about 5 to 6 months. I'll do exactly 185 hours on the C152 and the bare legal minimum of 15.1 hours on a multi-engine plane.
• Phase 3: India Conversion (July 2028 – Oct 2028): Come back to India, clear the DGCA conversion composite exam, wait for the SACAA verification letter, and do my local day/night recency check rides at a cheap regional FTO. Ideally, license in hand by late 2028 at age 19.

My questions for the sub:

1. Is a 5-6 month timeline for 200 hours in South Africa (likely looking at Gqeberha/Port Elizabeth or Lanseria) actually doable with standard maintenance and weather delays, or am I dreaming?
2. Will South African flight schools actually honor priority access to multiple Cessna 152 tail numbers if I pay a 100-hour block upfront, or will I still get stuck in line behind everyone else?
3. For anyone who did the SA-to-DGCA conversion recently, how long is the paperwork verification actually taking between SACAA and Delhi right now?

As is known, all aircraft have a service ceiling or an altitude at which they can no longer climb. This is caused by the decrease in air density as altitude increases. In a light piston aircraft, there are three main factors that I can think of. Flow of air over the wings creating lift, the amount of air being moved by the propeller and the amount of air entering the engine to be used for combustion. Given all three of these factors, which one would be the first to “reach its minimum” disallowing the aircraft to climb any further? My first thought is that it has more to do with the engine producing power than the wings producing lift as an aircraft with a more powerful engine would be able to climb higher even with the same airframe and wing shape but please prove me wrong. Or is it more of a combination of all three or something else I am completely missing? Thank you.

Perhaps "professional" is the wrong word but I can't think of another and it's meant in the most positive way.

I work in healthcare (as well as being an aviation enthusiast) and pilot working methods, specifically CRM, is often held up to us as the gold standard that we should be aiming for when it comes to how we work together, communicate, and come to decisions.

The view we are given is that pilots are rigorously professional in their work, specifically:

\- the use of checklists and established SOPs with few occasions of "just doing what you feel is right" (eg: a flight crew wouldn't depart from an SOP because it takes too long/they feel they know best)

\- the communication between flight crew is calm, professional, sterile (where indicated) and pilots are able to separate their own feelings from the job at hand (eg: you truly can work alongside and trust a pilot you haven't worked with before knowing they will meet high standards).

\- the training provided is adequate and the companies truly do ensure that pilots are given the training and operational freedom to prioritise safety over other short-term considerations (eg: in healthcare training/refreshers are regularly cancelled because of operational demands and managers often treat it as an inconvenience that is only given lip-service)

I'm really curious a) how accurate this is, and b) if it either is or isn't, are you able to give me some (anonymous) examples of that?

Thanks!

Hello, I’m currently a 19-year-old college student entering my final year of a two-year Marketing diploma program. I’m pursuing this program because my parents wanted me to get a degree in something other than aviation so that I have something to fall back on. Through my research, I’ve heard that having a four-year degree can make you more employable in a competitive job market. Even though I was aware of this, I wasn’t confident that I would be able to complete a four-year degree because I lack motivation to study something other than aviation. I told my parents that I would complete the two-year diploma and then decide whether I wanted to spend another two to three years completing a degree, either in person or online. My parents said this plan was fine and that they would fully support and fund my flight training as long as I completed my two-year diploma in something other than aviation.

My question is: when I complete the second year of my diploma, do pilots in Canada recommend turning it into a degree and completing it in person? Or have I already spent too much time pursuing something that is unrelated to the career I want, and should I instead focus entirely on my flight training and forget about getting a degree in an unrelated field? My final goal is to fly for an airline in Canada, and my plan is to start my flight training next summer through a flight school while possibly completing a degree online on the side. If anyone recommends completing a degree, are there any online universities in Canada where I could transfer my credits and turn my diploma into a degree online?

Any advice from Canadian pilots or any pilots familiar with the Canadian market in general would be greatly appreciated!

Is getting a degree before flight training really worth it, and what difference does it make?
And do airlines prioritise applicants with a degree?

How long will it be before AI takes over the job of the copilot on commercial flights? On a similar note, how long before the flight Captain is also AI?

Personally I believe both will be AI within five years. There are so many advantages to having a non human in control of the plane. They are never drunk or tired. They have no limits on how many hours they are allowed to work. They don’t make simple errors that humans sometimes make (what I mean is like simple math errors like when calculating the fuel or weight preflight)

I’m not saying AI will not make mistakes, it probably will make some early on. But eventually the creators will adjust for these and it will get better.

Think about the savings for the airline companies. A full subscription to ChatGPT is 20 dollars a month. Compare that with 20,000 a month for a pilot, and you don’t have to pay for a healthcare plan or any other benefits. Even if they needed a separate subscription for every pilot that is a huge savings.

Before you ask, yes I own stock in two major US airline companies and I want them to go up. But most of all I want everyone to have the benefit cheap safe flights all around the world and not have any concerns about human error in the cockpit. I have much respect for pilots but maybe it’s time to hang up the hat.

Edit: Okay, I can see that this idea isn’t very popular, but I ask you to reconsider. I forgot to include some information that some of you may already know.
Commercial airplanes already have a feature that allows them to fly themselves, it’s called autopilot. We are already halfway there. Here’s another one, planes can already land themselves in some weather conditions. Now we’re 2/3rds there. All we need is a takeoff algorithm that shouldn’t be too hard. Then you have a functioning pilot that can take you anywhere, just tell it where to go. I’m sure the AI can look up weather stuff on their own too and adjust for conditions. My AI can already look up the weather for me. I hope this helps.

Hello pilots , a very quick advice before my flight tomorrow morning (10.50am from Barcelona to London Luton). I have fear of flights and I really need some good advices before traveling tomorrow. Also, should I trust turblj ???

Perhaps I should already know, but do different size planes experience turbulence differently? Example: 737-900 vs E175.. if so why?

Thanks in advance.

This is probably more relevant to those flying narrowbody jets since bigger jets have multiple bathrooms. After meal service, you typically might see people walking to the back to use the rear bathroom which is going to shift the center of gravity. You will often see a few people queuing up and this is going to change the center of gravity of the plane. Is the COG change enough that pilots can notice a change in the elevator to compensate? Or, is it so little that it is just "noise" in the day-to-day operation of the jet?

Sorry if this is a dumb question, I genuinely don’t know what pilots are doing on long haul flights when it’s basically Auto Pilot flying the plane. I was thinking maybe they watch videos sometimes. Is this allowed?

Obviously not during takeoff and landing when its focus time, but I could see some time for Netflix on a long haul flight. But maybe that’s strictly forbidden and they just talk and watch their instruments for hours.

Hey can someone with professional knowledge explain what happened yesterday with Vietnam Airlines departing from Munich to Hanoi? That’s scary and i have huge fear of flying.. Additionally I take a KLM flight from D.C. to Amsterdam on August 26th also operated by Boeing 787-9. All i have in my head now is this situation and Air India crash from last year… i can’t calm down

ETA: Love ya Reddit. Thank you to those that took the time to reply with a possible cause as I was genuinely curious and seeking knowledge from those more educated in this field. It was the first time something like this has happened and the screaming from the other passengers made me feel like maybe it wasn’t “normal”. At no point did I intend any hate or snark towards the pilots. We landed safely and they did their job. EVEN IF it was pilot error I’m not going to the evening news about it and said several times that nobody anywhere ever does their job perfectly at all times. I’m still grateful to the people who train so hard to fly these things which still seems to my nervous flyer brain as an impossibility of logic.

I recently landed at LGA and I know their runways are short and require a precise landing. I’ve landed there many times before and have only noticed the use of reverse thrust to slow down faster.

However this landing felt like we just dropped the last few feet and slammed onto the runway. It was hard enough to pop an overhead bin open and a couple people screamed. That, mixed with the reverse thrusters firing had people around me very nervous. I honest thought we had popped a tire.

I noticed that when we were getting off the plane, the captains were still behind a closed cockpit door when usually the door is open and they’re saying goodbye to the people de-planing. I’m wondering if there was some error that would have made that happen and maybe they were filling out reports in there?

Conditions were dry and sunny though it had stormed early that morning. Maybe wind was involved?

I’m so curious to know what might have happened!

Just a girl who loves aviation and wants to go on a date with a single pilot!

Hey! If possible and someone is available, I'd like to interview someone for my college class whether it be through messages or whatever is the most convenient