121 flying.. Do you listen to music?

On rare occasion, I have pulled out my ipod and stuck one headphone in my ear. I usually wait until the CA is asleep. I figure if he wakes up and sees it in, he's on pretty thin ice to give me a lecture. I've flown with a few CA's who watch movies on really long flights..I don't think anyone would dispute the fact that it's a pretty bad idea. I don't see me ever doing that.
 
So how about playing fsim?

I've talked to a pilot who for ####s and giggles will break out his laptop (hrmm, which airline i wonder) and will play Flight Sim with the same specs of the flight once in cruise. Joystick and all.

He only does it for a minute or two before the newhire says something.

Way to keep your mind in flying besides your OWN airplane!!
 

Your contempt toward "commuter pilots" is laughable at best, really.

Hehehehe! :laff:

We love "heavy pilots" on this site. But stop for one moment and ask yourself, are your comments helping mentor the community? Or are you just slinging emtpy insult at the next generation of pilots from behind the safety of your keyboard.

I'm just wondering what's longer the nose on your face that you're looking down at everyone from. Or the nose of your widebody!

Post friendly! :)
 
Amen Max. BrandX, be cool man. You can certainly voice your opinions, but a sense of civility would be alright too.

Sincerely,

Your neighborhood regional pilot :)

ps...what would you have done xxx years ago when in our shoes? Without hindsight as a factor. Answer honestly and objectively please. There are many regional pilots still doing it the right way, including myself. Working for a respectable carrier, working to unionize in my case, and trying to improve life for all of us.
 
Me too....

I do listen to music sometimes, its always through the jumpseaters intercom where you can control the volume and always low, kinda like background noise. If I fly with a CA who does it we take turns swapping ipods depending on whos leg it is. Its not like I have it on LOUD, just nice and in the background.....
 
I rig mine up, so that it plays over the PA, so when a choice Cannibal Corpse song comes on, the passengers are eased and comforted...
 
Me too....

I do listen to music sometimes, its always through the jumpseaters intercom where you can control the volume and always low, kinda like background noise. If I fly with a CA who does it we take turns swapping ipods depending on whos leg it is. Its not like I have it on LOUD, just nice and in the background.....

How will you explain that when you have an inncident (God forbid) and the company/FAA pulls the CVR? That's one more question I really have no desire to answer. Something tells me they won't be too sympathetic. If they push play and the first thing they hear is a bunch of music in the background I doubt you'll make a good impression. Before you say "but it's not on for the last 30 mins," if you believe that today's CVRs only record a 30 min loop then I have some beachfront property in......

Just food for thought.

calcapt said it best, "no to music. Totally inappropriate for 121 ops."

I always ask myself, "if the cockpit door was glass would I still do it in front of the passengers."
 
I always ask myself, "if the cockpit door was glass would I still do it in front of the passengers."

We don't have a cockpit door, just a saloon style stupid door. So 99% of the time, its open and passengers get a front row seat to what goes on. Kind of annoying with them looking over your shoulder, but its cool when you shoot an approach down to mins and grease the landing in front of their eyes. That usually gets a few "Nice job!" compliments.
 
I just finished a month with a captain who plays music over the intercom. I'm not a huge fan, but it wasn't something I was willing to make a big deal about. I just ran the intercom switch off as I could hear what he was saying through the headset.

I can see on some parts of cruise, depending on where you are, it might work out ok, but defiantly not during most phases of flight.
 
How will you explain that when you have an inncident (God forbid) and the company/FAA pulls the CVR? That's one more question I really have no desire to answer. Something tells me they won't be too sympathetic. If they push play and the first thing they hear is a bunch of music in the background I doubt you'll make a good impression. Before you say "but it's not on for the last 30 mins," if you believe that today's CVRs only record a 30 min loop then I have some beachfront property in......

Just food for thought.

calcapt said it best, "no to music. Totally inappropriate for 121 ops."

I always ask myself, "if the cockpit door was glass would I still do it in front of the passengers."

Same as if they pulled the tapes and heard people BSing about what they were gonna do when they get home or how they cant stand this person or that FA when they are below 10,000ft and sterile cockpit has "been advised". But then again im sure no one does that. Im not trying to come off as assy, but its not like im playing From First to Last while im shoot approaches to mins at LGA. There is a time and a place and I do see your point....
 
We don't have a cockpit door, just a saloon style stupid door. So 99% of the time, its open and passengers get a front row seat to what goes on. Kind of annoying with them looking over your shoulder, but its cool when you shoot an approach down to mins and grease the landing in front of their eyes. That usually gets a few "Nice job!" compliments.


Forgive my ignorance on this one, but wouldn't that be some kind of security issue? Why don't they install real doors?
 
Huh.................what?...............................say again - I was in the middle of a Jerry Garcia rift - cross where at what speed??????



Max
 
I'm decidedly in the "no" column. I don't let my FO's do it either.

Do you "let" your FOs read, or is that also unacceptable? Do they have to sit their and stare into space for 80 hours a month?

I'm not willing to bet a violation from a missed crossing restriction or the like over my or my FO's ability to listen to ATC over the music. Besides at XJT we work with a lot of really new guys and I don't like the example it would set. I choose to take the high road and do things as close to compliant with the FOM as I can. It's not worth it not to.
I've never done the iPod thing, but I've been known to read quite a bit. Never caused me to get a violation, and I've never heard of it causing anybody to get a violation. As far as I'm concerned, it enhances safety because it keeps you alert instead of lulling half to sleep from boredom. I'm much more likely to catch that crossing restriction from ATC if I'm alert than if I'm half asleep because I've been staring out the window at IMC conditions for the past 3 hours.

Try conversation for a change. I know many people will ask what to do about flying with guys that don't talk but that happens so infrequently that I don't really think that argument holds water.
I don't care how good of a conversationalist you are, you're going to run out of "material" after a few days of flying. By that second trip of the month, there's not much left to talk about. Yeah, the occasional thing comes up, but it's not enough to keep you occupied and alert for leg after leg, day after day. Besides, I really don't want to sit there and talk for hours and hours. Sometimes I want a break and just want to sit back and read a copy of Newsweek.

Some of you guys really need to loosen up a bit. I'm all about professionalism, but there's nothing wrong with cracking a magazine or a book on a 3 hour flight in cruise. As for the iPod, I've never done it, but I never had a problem with my FOs doing it as long as they didn't start missing calls from ATC. Most of them have those fancy adapters that cut out the music when something comes over the radio anyway, so no big deal. Just turn the thing off before the descent check and I'm happy.
 
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