Sristys Online Air Hostess Training

PILOTS 

Becoming an airline pilot takes years of dedication and hard work.

Pilots are the people who fly the aircrafts using all the equipments and instruments available to them in an aircraft. On commercial airlines, there are atleast 2 pilots and on certain long haul flights you will generally find 3 pilots in the cockpit. The training and practical flight experience in the beginning years are gruelling and nerve wracking for these pilots, but that is the only way it happens.

The pilot in command in an aircraft is called the Captain and he generally sits on the left side seat of the cockpit. He is solely responsible for all major command and control decisions in an aircraft.  He also has to command responsibility of all crew members and handle the emergency situations that may arise during a flight.  He and co-pilot jointly flies the airplane, until and unless he decides to let the copilot do all the flying.

The co-pilot fo first officer as is called in many airlines, is the second in command and takes ove rthe responsibility and command and control of a flight as and when the captain is not able to fly the aircraft anymore due to medical reasons.  He also gives a second opinion to the decisions made by the Captain.  He sits on the right hand side of the cockpit and has all the controls as that of the Captain.

Most airplanes also have a position in the cockpit for a flight engineer.  he is trained to fly the aircraft, but he generally do not fly and monitors all the instruments and equipments required for flying the aircraft smoothly.  He is responsible to assess the instruments and convey the decisions to pilot regarding airworthiness of the aircraft and in air to assist the captain in deciding whether to declare an emergency or not.

Pilots job is fun and getting paid for that fun is much more exciting.  It is often quoted by pilots as saying that a pilots job is dotted with hours of sheer boredom punctuated by seconds of terror.

Pilots are the focal point and end operator in a huge team of highly trained professionals. 

The captain is responsible as a team leader to ensure a effective crew atmosphere with good communication and crew resource management skills.  During his career a s a captain he is bound to pass many written test and practical skill level test conducted by the airline to keep up the standards of airworthiness of their cockpit crew.

All pilots in the cockpit crew have equal levels of training, but they usually have varying degrees of seniority. At most airlines, the career track is based almost completely on length of service. To become a captain, you have to rise through the ranks and wait until it's your turn and a position opens up. Seniority also dictates the sorts of planes a pilot flies, as well as his or her schedule. Pilots who are relatively new to the airline will fly as co-pilot   With the hectic schedule of the crew around, it's no wonder flights are occasionally delayed while waiting around for crew members to arrive.

Pilots with more seniority pick out a regular flight schedule, called a line. Pilots holding a line live a more "ordinary" sort of life, in the sense that they know ahead of time when they'll be working. But even these pilots spend a lot of time away from their families. In the United States, a pilot's scheduled flight time should not exceed 8 hours in a row for domestic flights or 12 hours for international flights. However in many cases Pilots may work for more than 16 hours straight, since flights are often delayed or extended.

A pilot typically arrives at the airport at least an hour before departure (two hours for international flights). Most airlines have a computerized check-in system in the pilot's lounge. This gives the pilots the details of the flight, including the weather, the number of passengers on board and the other crew members who will be working. In order to keep everything in one place, pilots generally keep their flight papers and any other information in a large briefcase.

Language of the Skies

English is the language of the skies, hence in many cases pilots are also given language training skills during their training days.

International treaties have designated English as the official language for airplane communication, though airports may use another language if both the pilot and the controller can speak it. The controllers must speak in English if the flight crew is not comfortable speaking the native language.

Unfortunately, many pilots only learn enough English to get by, leading to occasional misunderstandings. It's not clear how many accidents and incidents are the result of language barriers, but some studies show that the problem is getting worse. In the future, new international agreements may establish testing and training standards to assure that all airline pilots can actually speak adequate English.

In the time before take-off, a pilot reviews this information, works out the flight plan, files it with air traffic control and meets with the rest of the crew. Once the airplane has landed, the captain meets with the arriving flight crew to find out if they experienced any irregularities. The first officer performs a general inspection of the plane to make sure everything is in good order. After this walk-through, the pilots meet in the cockpit and make sure all of the instruments and controls are working properly.

The captain is bound to sign the flight release which attests that the crew is fit to fly and the pilot have reviewed them.  While preparing for take-off pilot receives an up to date weather report and passenger number and a pre-departure clearance form.  To make it easier nowadays cockpits come ready with a printer which can receive information from the gate agents and air traffic control tower directly to print output for pilots information.

When the paperwork is finished, the attendants secure all the doors and the captain gives the go-ahead for "pushback" (pushing the plane back from the gate so it can move onto the runway). Then, the pilots simply wait their turn and follow the air traffic controller's instructions for takeoff.

In a flight, take off and landing require the maximum piloting skills.  In modern aircrafts the pilots main responsibility is to monitor the automatic instruments and systems to make sure the plane is flying correctly and to change or correct the course if needed.  In case of an emergency, things can get more busy and hectic for pilots.  The pilots are extensively trained to deal with such emergencies.  However, these piloting skills are needed only on rare occasions but they must be ready to do it whenever the hour of need calls for it.

The life of air hostesses -- the crew members who take care of the passengers -- is also filled with unpredictability.