Question for the Captains on here.

ASpilot2be

ASpilot2be

Qbicle seat warmer
On our gate at work the planes have to come in straight towards the terminal then make a sharp right turn to line up with the gate(picture below). Some Captains seem to do what they feel like to line up with the gate.

Today at work one Captain went right past the lead in line then make a hard to to pull in straight to the gate. It caught me off guard and made me hustle to get out of the way.

Do you usually go between the wing walkers, or will you do something different?

Below is a picture of what I am talking about. The yellow is the lead in line, and red is the travel on the aircraft.
crazy.jpg
 
We have a lot of captains on the 700/900 who do that because they like to think they are flying a much bigger airplane than it actually is. Its funny except for the fact that you know anyone who does fly a big airplane is probably laughing at us.
 
Screaming_Emu said:
We have a lot of captains on the 700/900 who do that because they like to think they are flying a much bigger airplane than it actually is. Its funny except for the fact that you know anyone who does fly a big airplane is probably laughing at us.
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Yeah, I remember a lot on the ERJ that would taxi into position and hold by heading for the grass and then put the tiller to the stop in the direction of the runway only to have the plane way too far from the centerline. Why? Because the ERJ isn't as long as an MD-11, 777-300, or Concorde. :p
 
Lead in line and watch the wing walkers. Had a grizzled vet tell me once "If you're gonna hit something, at least make sure there's a yellow line under you when you hit it." I do the hard turns on the runway most of the time, but I also know where to start the turn in the CRJ. :)
 
From the opinion of a pilot who has to deal with AWAC ground personnel at IAD who marshal us in on the UAX side, its mainly our experience with them that makes us trust ourselves more than a marshaller.

The other day a new guy tried bringing us all the way up to a CRJ line, the Saab line is about 5 feet behind it. We both knew that we were pulling forward too much and stopped it. The guy still tried to get us to move forward, but we shut it down, got out, and I nicely told the guy that if he saw spinny things on the side, that the further back line was ours. I then showed him how to hook up the PC air. (Instead of yelling, or berating, I find teaching a new guy is better for us in the future.)

The problem is that most people dont know how to marshall, or know the signs. The ONLY people who seem to actually be trained on it, and is a location we go to, is HPN. Those are some damn good marshallers, and you can clearly understand what they mean with the wands.
 
v1valarob said:
The problem is that most people dont know how to marshall, or know the signs. The ONLY people who seem to actually be trained on it, and is a location we go to, is HPN. Those are some damn good marshallers, and you can clearly understand what they mean with the wands.
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Interesting. Marshalling is what we get the most training on at work.

It is nice to work at a place where people take their jobs seriously.:)
 
I used to show pilots I mean boss when I throw both wands on the ground and they bounce up and catch it with out looking at them, but I broke a lot of them.
 
It's fun and takes a lot of practice, just don't let anyone see you at first, then when you get the hang of it, show it off:)
 
v1valarob said:
From the opinion of a pilot who has to deal with AWAC ground personnel at IAD who marshal us in on the UAX side, its mainly our experience with them that makes us trust ourselves more than a marshaller.
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Really depends on the situation, too. If it's plainly obvious that the guy doesn't know what he's doing, then I get extra cautious. Some of the places we park have some tight turns, too. One of our gates in DSM is pretty tight, but they're also normally good about having an extra marshaller or two for that one. One of our off gate parking spots in GSP is tight, too. That one, they normally bring is right down the yellow line, and I'm cool with that. It's normally wide open places like MEM, DTW or other larger stations where the wing tips wind up hitting baggage carts....
 
The situation emphasizes the IC in PIC. It'd be a difficult to defend "...cause the marshall directed me to ..." This would be a good thread for the "So you're the Captain" forum.
 
CDNPilotDave said:
The situation emphasizes the IC in PIC. It'd be a difficult to defend "...cause the marshall directed me to ..." This would be a good thread for the "So you're the Captain" forum.
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Depends on the situation. If it's an area that you can't see, it'd be very EASY to defend that. I know a lot of guys that had wing tips clip baggage carts (or wings run over something) b/c the wing walker was day dreaming rather than throwing up the X signal to get the marshaller to stop them. Guess who got fired? Now, if that was clearly in the safety zone when the CA started taxiing in, well, then I'd say the CA is also responsible. Hence the reason CAs should always double check the safety zone at the gate before going in.
 
Unless there are very unusual circumstances, keep the nose gear on the yellow line as they are usually painted there for a reason.
 
Maybe its Navy training, but I ALWAYS follow the marshaller. If you don't on the flight deck, its a ticket to Davy Jones' locker. So, unless the marshaller is totally AFU, I follow the wands.
 
Velocipede said:
Maybe its Navy training, but I ALWAYS follow the marshaller. If you don't on the flight deck, its a ticket to Davy Jones' locker. So, unless the marshaller is totally AFU, I follow the wands.
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If it's a hot female marshaller I go where she tells me. If it's a big ugly dude, I follow the lines.
 
Velocipede said:
Maybe its Navy training, but I ALWAYS follow the marshaller. If you don't on the flight deck, its a ticket to Davy Jones' locker. So, unless the marshaller is totally AFU, I follow the wands.
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I don't think they let Navy marshallers walk around with iPods in their ears, either. Navy guys off in la-la land or looking at some waves off the side could get someone killed. Lets just say our marshallers aren't exactly trained to military specs. If they were, I'd trust 'em.
 
kellwolf said:
Lead in line and watch the wing walkers. Had a grizzled vet tell me once "If you're gonna hit something, at least make sure there's a yellow line under you when you hit it." I do the hard turns on the runway most of the time, but I also know where to start the turn in the CRJ. :)
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:yeahthat:

I'd follow the yellow line. Even if it's wrong, at least you can say you were following the guidance. Make sure you follow all the guidance for the ramp in the GOM, also. But if something really doesn't look right, play it safe and explain later. I just wouldn't try to reinvent the park procedures in a tight area. Marshallers...well sometimes they scare me (they say the same thing about us). There's a way to follow their guidance and stay on the line, I can't really explain how I do it. I make all my turns and adjustments smoothly and in predictable fashion. If the marshaller is good, they'll know how to get me to make my turns faster or slower. If a mashaller is trying to get me to go off the line by a lot, i stop and consult with them about it somehow. A quick call to ops or a wave over from the window if the entire ops is outside.
 
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