Boeing to Airbus Transition

Truth. Captain I flew with once brought a freaking superautomatic espresso machine and you'd never know it was in the cockpit until he wanted to freshen his latte. Smelled great tho.
Captain I flew with would do yoga in the doorway on the way to Hawaii. I miss the space in the Bus
 
We had a guy who figured our a way to hang a hammock down in the EE bay. He'd take his rest breaks down there instead of in the back... until he bumped something and broke it.

These are the great stories right here! Up there with @Adler ‘s photos of the sleeping bags on the 727 cargo floor in Mexico. EE bay seems high stakes though, one careless kick over the ocean and you could be short an ADIRU or an MCDU or something. :)
 
Back in the day, hour way too many of duty that we had no time to prepare for, sometime after midnight but still long before sunrise, I was loading cargo and the captain took a FBO car to McDonald's. This captain was notoriously sidetracked, often updating his will in cruise while pounding 5 Hours Energy and jamming out to music. I told him wanted two mcdoubles, came back with burgers, large fries, and a large milkshake, complaining about how expensive my order was.

Freight loaded, we fire up, excited to leave the uncontrolled field quickly. Captain went toga before we were lined up, and we were on our way...except my milkshake was knocked over by the jolt when the ancient engines finally spooled up.

Flaps up, frustrated that he murdered my milkshake, my solution to clean the mess was the throw paper towel down, soak up the milkshake, and then dump bottle water on the floor to ensure it wouldn't be sticky. I emptied a water bottle, and then remembered I was standing into of the E&E bay.
 
Flew with a captain in the Bus who had one of those pointy finger sticks. He’d recline his seat all the way back, put his feet up, and then hit the FMS and autopilot buttons with it.

4A839EB1-F79F-4A93-B610-32E803344F50.jpeg
 
As a fellow alumnus of the YIP pressure cooker and holder of both Airbus and Boeing types, I don't think worries about adapting to Fifi should give you any pause whatsoever. The reputation that Version 1.0 of the A320 got in the 90s when paired with pilots with no substantial glass time has been hard to shake, but it's overblown.

The biggest difference for the folks up front wearing white shirts, apart from the muscle memory of the sidestick, is probably adapting their thinking from a "To" Box, where the logic is all geared around the plane finding its way to a fix, to a "From" Box, where the logic is oriented more on a fix from which the plane is coming. The MD-11 alumni I fly with from other ACMIs evidently dealt with that gear shift in reverse when they went to Boeing, but it doesn't seem to have given them any real heartburn. The hardcore online flight simulation n̶e̶r̶d̶s̶ community actually have a wide selection of MCDU software emulators if you'd like to see what all the fuss is about, if you can't get your hands on any official resources yet.

Most people who have flown both seem to have a preference, but that should be near the bottom of your list of concerns if you're considering a junior upgrade. You'll be fine.
 
These are the great stories right here! Up there with @Adler ‘s photos of the sleeping bags on the 727 cargo floor in Mexico. EE bay seems high stakes though, one careless kick over the ocean and you could be short an ADIRU or an MCDU or something. :)

This whole thread reminds me of this, basically a bunch of cargo dudes sitting around cutting up jackpots:


Luxury.
 
We had a guy who figured our a way to hang a hammock down in the EE bay. He'd take his rest breaks down there instead of in the back... until he bumped something and broke it.

Did he see Cappy and Rat down there?


Without looking it up. If you get the reference, you're my kinda guy.
 
Back in the day, hour way too many of duty that we had no time to prepare for, sometime after midnight but still long before sunrise, I was loading cargo and the captain took a FBO car to McDonald's. This captain was notoriously sidetracked, often updating his will in cruise while pounding 5 Hours Energy and jamming out to music. I told him wanted two mcdoubles, came back with burgers, large fries, and a large milkshake, complaining about how expensive my order was.

Freight loaded, we fire up, excited to leave the uncontrolled field quickly. Captain went toga before we were lined up, and we were on our way...except my milkshake was knocked over by the jolt when the ancient engines finally spooled up.

Flaps up, frustrated that he murdered my milkshake, my solution to clean the mess was the throw paper towel down, soak up the milkshake, and then dump bottle water on the floor to ensure it wouldn't be sticky. I emptied a water bottle, and then remembered I was standing into of the E&E bay.


So what you're saying is, your milkshake brought all the mechanics to the yard, and they're like...
 
If you can accept you’re more “machine manager” than a pilot in the Airbus, it’s easier. The old saw is that the Airbus makes great pilots mediocre and bad pilots mediocre. The tray table is great and honestly, the side stick is fine and it’s an extremely comfortable and quiet cockpit. Most 737 converts I fly with don’t regret it at all. Now the folks who flew the 757/767 well….

It has its quirks, as all aircraft do, but in my brief experience with it, it makes an easy job even easier.
 
If you can accept you’re more “machine manager” than a pilot in the Airbus, it’s easier. The old saw is that the Airbus makes great pilots mediocre and bad pilots mediocre. The tray table is great and honestly, the side stick is fine and it’s an extremely comfortable and quiet cockpit. Most 737 converts I fly with don’t regret it at all. Now the folks who flew the 757/767 well….

It has its quirks, as all aircraft do, but in my brief experience with it, it makes an easy job even easier.
Compared to the 350, the 320 series is manual transmission 1974 Datsun. You're REALLY along for the ride once you get all that crap programmed.
 
Compared to the 350, the 320 series is manual transmission 1974 Datsun. You're REALLY along for the ride once you get all that crap programmed.
Sadly, my legAAcy decided to shelve all of our wide body Buse’s. If a wide body I be going, it’s going to be a Boeing (sadly) at this point in time anyway. But I’m a few years from that one, if at all.
It’s not that I don’t like Boeings, but it’d be nice to step up without changing manufacturers and all that entails.
 
If you can accept you’re more “machine manager” than a pilot in the Airbus, it’s easier. The old saw is that the Airbus makes great pilots mediocre and bad pilots mediocre. The tray table is great and honestly, the side stick is fine and it’s an extremely comfortable and quiet cockpit. Most 737 converts I fly with don’t regret it at all. Now the folks who flew the 757/767 well….

It has its quirks, as all aircraft do, but in my brief experience with it, it makes an easy job even easier.
There are definitely great Airbus pilots and there are definitely bad Airbus pilots. It may overall water down the spectrum compared to other aircraft types but there is most definitely a spectrum nonetheless.
 
Back
Top