Get your questions answered by the Captain!

THE 10 QUESTIONS
YOU WISH YOU
COULD ASK AN AIRLINE PILOT!

Meryl Getline is a captain for a major airline
and author of The World at My Feet. 

Question 1: Should I be afraid of turbulence and why? Absolutely not! Although turbulence has been known to cause injuries and affect airplanes, the instances of it are too rare to worry about. Apparently over 25 million Americans (as seen in Newsweek Magazine) are afraid to fly and turbulence is the #1 fear. ALL air is disturbed to some degree, although often it's so minimal it feels like smooth air to us. Most rough air is simply the equivalent of driving over a rough patch of road or of steering a boat through rough waters.  There are different causes of turbulence, like hot air rising over the desert, convective turbulence (the kind you feel near thunderstorms), etc.  In over three decades of flying I have NEVER been adversely affected by turbulence other than just annoyed by it.  Flyers experience it to some degree virtually every time they fly and I equate it literally to the fact that if you drive for any length, you're bound to hit a bump or two.

Question 2: "Do you start your jet with a key, and if so, where do you keep the key?" Under the mat, of course! Just kidding. We have a startup procedure we go through to start our engines, but there is no key.

Question 3: Can airplanes take off and land on autopilot? The autopilot can fly an airplane once in the air, and land it, but it cannot be used during takeoff. Most pilots will hand fly the plane up to 10,000 feet or at cruise altitude before they engage the autopilot. The autopilot makes constant corrections for altitude and course. This frees us up to look out for traffic and other duties.  The autopilot is mandatory for landings during foggy conditions or in a snowstorm when visibility is low. Restrictions prohibit landing using autopilot during very windy conditions.

Question 4: Why do airplanes seem to accelerate right as they are about to land? They dont. Your perception is that they accelerate because the ENGINES accelerate. Why? We have to slow down and must put out flaps and gear in preparation for landing. Flaps and gear add drag to the airplane, so even as were flying more and more slowly in preparation for landing, our engines require more and more thrust to keep up with all that additional drag on the airplane.

Question 5: Why is a "COCKPIT" called a COCKPIT? In the early 18th century the term was in nautical use. The term cockpit denoted an area in the aft lower deck of a man-of-war where the wounded were taken, later coming to mean the pit or well in a sailing ship from which it was steered. It became a term meaning the place housing the controls of other vehiclesincluding airplanes.

Question 6: Where's the best place to sit in the airplane? First Class, of course! Just kidding. This question is generally asked in terms of where is the most stable place in the airplane to sit. Think of a see-saw with the fulcrum, or center of gravity, in the middle. The farther from the middle you are, the longer the "arm", the more movement and the less stable. In an airplane, the center of gravity is around the wing area. It's not in the exact middle of the airplane. Take your two index fingers and make a "T" with them, with your bottom index finger centered under the top one to demonstrate the center and most stable point on a see-saw. Now slide the bottom index finger to the line where that first knuckle is and that represents the wing of an airplane. Anything over or forward of that point is more stable than sitting very far behind the wing. Farther aft and back toward the rear becomes more and more unstable and you'll feel much more of the aircraft's movements. If you're prone to airsickness (which I was, and very much so, when I learned to fly) don't sit farther back in the airplane than you have to.

Question 7: How do you steer the airplane down the runway after you've just touchd down and the nose is still in the air? With our feet, using the rudder pedals! We are still controlling our airplane the same way we are in the air until that nosewheel comes down. At that time our rudder pedals transfer to control of the nosewheel, which steers the airplane. We keep steering with our feet until we slow way down--below around 30 knots or so. Then we take over with a little steering wheel usually located only on the captain's side, and the "tiller" as it's called, directly steers the nosewheel except now it's a lot more sensitive.

Question 8: Are we safer now after post 9/11? We may be safer from the standpoint that everyones awareness level has certainly been raised. Security will probably never be 100% and it certainly isnt now, although its much more thorough than it used to be. One thing that has definitely changed is our previously passive attitude. Now if passengers see anything its virtually guaranteed that theyll be there to help our crews whereas before 9/11 they were generally much more passive. 9/11 served to snap us all to attention that we MUST be aware of whats going on around us. With everyone participating in security by being observant, certainly our security has improved. People up to no good have a more difficult time pulling anything off unobserved. We havent stopped the enemy, but I think weve certainly thwarted some attempts and made it much more difficult than it was to get away with anything. Security is EVERYONES business.

Question 9:  Can people still visit the cockpit post 9/11?    YES! Actually, not much has changed. Passengers havent been allowed into the cockpit in flight for decades in the U.S., but on the ground visitors remain welcome in the cockpit before and after flights, depending upon pilots willingness and time allowance. Most pilots welcome visitors with questions and its a rare flight when I dont have people up in the cockpit before, after, or both! Also, this is the #1 way to combat fearMEET your pilots. Putting a face to the pilots always seems to have a calming effect on even our most fearful flyers.

Question 10: How did you get started in aviation? Did you come up through the military? This is actually the Number One question even above the one about turbulence. The answer is told in my book "The World At My Feet". The Air Force wouldn't let women in to fly that long ago (1974), my timing was wrong for the Navy, but the Army wanted me. I got every pilot rating I could, then joined the Army, and then went and "bootlegged" time from the Air Force, Navy and Marines. That means I visited different squadrons and got them to give me flight instruction. I was also an air traffic controller in the Army. Book is autobiographical and takes the reader all over the world to Austria, France, Israel, Russia, Mexico, Alaska, Iran and more with flying and other adventures as I tried to get myself qualified for the airlines. The airlines told me they would not hire women, and I got thrown out of several interviews to which I had been invited as my name "Meryl"combined with my qualifications and military background made interviewers think I was a guy. Eventually the airlines opened up to women and when they did, I was ready.

BONUS QUESTION: Whats the scariest thing thats ever happened to you in flight? I once wound up OUTSIDE the airplane I was flying! My door blew open in a pressurized light twin over the Gulf of Alaska. My briefcase, logbook inside, got sucked out with everything else, wrapping itself around the wing strut, which is the thin metal bar from the body of the airplane to the high wing. I HAD to have it to get an airline job, so I WENT OUT AND GOT IT, inching myself along the strut with just my toes still inside the aircraft. And yes, I was flying alone that day. Mission was accomplished and I made a subsequent emergency landing at Anchorage.