librarygal

It seems to me that airlines would be much more efficent if they did all the checks of the planes instruments while they are at the gate vs. after they roll back from the gate. Help me understand.

So I am sitting on the plane, waiting to take off, and the two pilots are sitting in the cockpit flirting with the flight attendants not doing much of anything. FINALLY it is time to leave and the plane rolls back from the gate, stops and for about ten minutes it does it's equipment check on the tarmac. This process always seems to take forever. (I know it is for our safety.)

It would seem more logical for the pilots to do the equipment safety check at the gate while they are waiting for the luggage to load, etc. The pilots are just sitting there flirting with the flight attendants anyway.

Why can't they move the process along and do the equipment check (flaps, etc.) at the gate?

Gamecock

Not a pilot, but it seems to me many of the checks can't be done until the engines are turning at a certain rpm. Don't think you want them fired up to that degree at the ramp.

Again, just shooting from the hip.

Beven12S

The First Class passengers should absolutely not be subjected to such delays.

Perhaps "good" airlines should have international F passengers board from a Mercedes S-class at the threshold of the runway? It time were money, one might feel that way. Or would this conflict with the PDB service?

jonsg

@Gamecock's spot on. When the plane's at the stand, it's only got its APU running; enough to run the electrics, and push air through the cabin. Only when the main engines have started can you check hydraulics, fuel pressures, the engines themselves of course, plus all the control systems and the aircon packs.

By the time the pax are starting loading, all the weight/balance calculations have been done, the fuel amounts have been worked out (although fuelling may still be in progress), the routes have been entered into the navcom, and all the checklists that can be worked, have been. There's not much the flight crew can do until push-back.

84fiero

Airline pilots, so lazy and surly. You should definitely alert the airlines that you have figured out how to improve their operations so much. No doubt your expertise will be in high demand.

milepig

And the plane should leave when F is boarded.

Cloudship

It is not necessarily that the pilots are just doing checks during that time. Yes they are going through checklists- the whole process is all checklists. But other things are going on as well. The tug pushes the aircraft back, there is then the whole process of disconnecting the tug from the plane. In somecases they will have to do an engine start-up. Often times they are simply waiting for other planes to get out of the way so they can move. If you have ever experienced regular flying into/out of DEN vs JFK or ATL, you realize how much time is wasted because of tarmac tie-ups.

librarygal

Then turn on the engines in the final minutes at the gate to help move things along!

TravelerMSY

They can't typically start the engines until they're a certain distance from the gate, which is accomplished by a crew towing them out there. Said crew has to get out of the way before engine start. Then they need to call the tower for taxi clearance, which they can't ask for until they're ready to move. Hence the delay.

dimramon

<redacted by moderator>

In the unlikely event you ar actually interested in the question you asked, check the following link:
http://flighttraining.aopa.org/stude...checklist.html

justhere

Great idea. This has the potential to create jobs too! ^

When a ramper or three get sucked into the engines, there's a job opening for someone else.

Keep in mind that a plane makes no money unless it's in the air so airlines don't want the plane sitting any longer than it has to.

FirstInFlight

Seems like there once was an airline with a couple of pilots that tried something like that - once. It was called Air Florida and the pilots used the engines and thrust reversers to push back when they couldn't get a tug. For many reasons that didn't work out well. Thus, today we have checklists and procedures.. Sometimes safety comes at the price of expediency - but I've often thought that, in aviation, it's a fair trade.

readywhenyouare

There is nothing wrong with using reverse thrust to push back from the gate if done so according to procedure and using the appropriate aircraft (727, DC-9, MD-80/90 series, 717). The Air Florida captain used reverse thrust to try and speed up the de-icing process and it made the situation worse. Then they messed up running the checklist and didn't engage engine heat. The final flaw was that the first officer didn't abort the takeoff even though he was the pilot flying because he feared the captain. So your simplistic answer doesn't do justice to that accident. We are safer because of better training and telling the old Skygod captains to piss off.

BearX220

The crew starts getting paid upon pushback; hence, the incentive to do checklists, etc. out on the taxiway rather than gratis at the gate.

Allan38103

What does any of this have to do with "flirting with the FA's"?