Naw, those guys are trained professionals! Like those MCO agents that ran the jet bridge into a running engine. Only 3-5 million in damage! Think of all that fuel savings and APU cycle savings! Your profit sharing check will be HUGE! Ohhhhh wait..... nvm.

 

But but....the “company wants us”....

Will the company pay for your psychiatric sessions when you kill a ramper and have that on your conscience for life?

But....”the company wants us”

 

Wow that escalated quickly from pens...

Since we are talking about heat. My favorite is every cockpit light on full bright even though it’s 3pm in the afternoon.

Apart from the cockpit being a sauna the mcdu is almost too hot to touch... please don’t use lights during the day or if you must for whatever reason turn them off at the gate.

 

THANK YOU!!!

I’ve never understood why the backlighting is still on when I pick up a plane at 3pm....

 

So, speaking of brake temps...

On the Airbus, what heats up the brakes more, the landing or taxiing for a long time on both engines after landing?

On the ERJ I notice the brakes are usually still pretty cool after exiting the runway. They get hot when you have a captain that insists on leaving both running all the way to the gate. In a place like ORD they're usually in the yellow by the time you hit the gate.

 

IMO what kills the brakes the most are pilots applying manual brakes above 100kts. Any time I feel a guy getting on the brakes above 100kts, I can rest assured the temps will rise.

Low brakes don’t engage until 4 seconds so you’re usually below 100 when the auto brakes start to engage. But guys getting on them above 100kts, with 8000’ of runway left, you’ll get hot brakes

 

I agree that leaving a plane with hot brakes can be a D!(& move. But there are some really good videos and literature out there about carbon brakes. They do like the heat and work better when hot, rather than cold. Now the old school steel brakes of the past, not so much

 

Low brakes and a single engine taxi works just fine everywhere but vegas. This presumes a long runway. I’d bet full reverse, incorrect manual braking, and two engine taxi for engine cool yields higher brake temps most of the time. Either way company says they are good to be hot. With our turn times I’ve never seen brake temps that were well in the 300s after landing not be ready for takeoff except in Vegas.

As for running the engine at the gate- it’s just ridiculous. The ramp crew and a lot of pilots seem to think everyone is waiting for electricity. I could give two craps about ground power I’m waiting for air which is why I run the APU. Aside from the safety issues of running the engine, it takes them 5 minutes to hook up GPU. The APU can run three times as long as one engine on the same amount of gas. It then takes another 5 min to hook up air. So for five minutes of running the engine I can run the APU for 14 and save fuel and be comfortable. If you are not running the APU you used more fuel while waiting for GPU and then made your fellow coworkers that are deadheading in row 30 suck on their neighbor’s hot breath while you are long gone and we all wait for the air to get hooked up. Now the airplane is hot and jet way air can’t cool it can only maintain. So now the next crew will start the APU sooner and burn even more fuel.

Moral of the story in warm climates: pre-cool the airplane by going cold at TOD. Hold on starting the APU til pulling into the ramp, then start the damn thing. Set the brake and shut down the engine for safety. Let the exhaust subside for a couple minutes and hit the bleed and pump full cold into what should be a pre-cooled plane. Select GPU when the geniuses downstairs get their act together to take some load off the APU, but leave the air running until the jetway air gets hooked up. If you must leave before this happens by all means shut her down and split but those of us in row 30 would sure appreciate a few minutes of your time. If you find that it takes the entire plane unloading before air was hooked up an email to fuel burn is in order.

This is obviously technique only and certain circumstances may require different techniques but most times this keeps everyone comfortable, less irritable (less passenger disruptions), AND saves fuel.

Now where the F did my pen go so I can write this down!

 

3pm?? I never see 3pm duty. My work hours are 10pm to 7am.

 

If you are single engine taxiing in, and delaying the APU start as you say, I hope you’re opening the cross bleed on the taxi in. Because if cold soaking that plane is your concern, you’ll either need that APU bleed on during the taxi in or cross bleed open. Otherwise you’re only using half your cooling capabilities

Emails to fuel burn are worthless. If I had a dollar for every ridiculous reply I’ve gotten back from that email, I wouldn’t need profit sharing. 2 years of still crappy jet bridge air tells me they are no closer to getting things fixed and pilots are just getting more used to having hot air hooked up.

Biggest issue with the cabin not being cool during deplaning are FAs not doing their simple task of making a PA to close the shades. I’m scrambling up front to see if they will hook air up and wanting to see if it will even blow cold, meanwhile the FAs have every window shade open and all gasper vents are closed because you cold soaked it from TOD and people got cold and closed the vents. FAs not doing their jobs.

I leave the bleed on until air is up and then I’m gone. If air is INOP at the gate per the print out, I’ll leave the bleed on and I’m gone. FAs not like the heat? Close the shades like you’re supposed to. Maybe a few warm deplaning will help jolt their memory. Passengers warm because the air carts suck? See above statement about fuel burn email being worthless.

2 years into the “no APU” and air carts are still junk. Company doesn’t care, FAs don’t care, so pilots are now left carrying the bag.