How do you know where you are with only cloud outside?The instruments. You learn to trust them.
What do passengers think pilots do that they do not?Nap while the autopilot works. I am busy the whole time.
What do you do on the ground between two flights?Refuel, plan the next leg, stretch my legs.
What do you fly, and who or what is usually on board?A small twin-engine plane. Mail, parcels and one mechanic.
What do you say to the other pilot more than anything else?"Checked." About forty times a flight.
What does a pilot do before the passengers ever see the plane?Walk around it, check the weather, read the paperwork.
What does takeoff feel like from the front seat?A firm push in the back, then everything goes smooth.
What does turbulence feel like to a pilot?Like a bumpy road. Annoying, mostly.
What flying weather do you hope for when you wake up?Cold, clear and still. You can see for a hundred miles.
What habit from flying do you keep at home?I use a checklist to pack the car.
What is in your flight bag?A headset, a tablet of charts, a flashlight and snacks.
What is the first job of a pilot's working day?Reading the weather, with a strong coffee.
What is the longest flight you have flown, and how did you pass it?Eleven hours. Checklists, radio calls and a lot of tea.
What made you want to fly in the first place?A ride in a two-seater when I was nine.
What sight from the cockpit would you fly a long way to see again?Sunrise above a flat sheet of cloud.
What was your first flight alone like?Very quiet. The plane climbed faster without my instructor.
Where should someone start if they want to learn to fly?One trial lesson. You will know by the time you land.
Which airfield do you like flying into best, and why?A grass strip by a lake. Deer on the edge at dusk.
Which part of a flight keeps you busiest?The last ten minutes before landing.
Which seat would you pick as a passenger, and why?A window just ahead of the wing. I still like to look out.
The cockpit 14
How do two pilots split the work?One flies, one works the radio. Next leg we swap.
How is the cockpit different at night?Dim lights, bright screens, black windows.
How many switches are in the cockpit, and do you use them all?Hundreds. Most get touched once a flight.
How much of the plane can you see from your seat?The nose and a wingtip. For the rest, I ask.
What can you hear in your headset?The controller, the other pilot and my own breathing.
What did the cockpit of your first plane look like?Six round dials, one radio and a map on my knee.
What do the pedals under your feet do?They move the rudder, which swings the nose left or right.
What do you keep within reach during a flight?Water, a pen and the checklist card.
What does a checklist sound like when two pilots read it?One calls the item, the other answers. Like a duet.
What does the autopilot do, and what does it leave to you?It holds the heading and the height. I do the thinking.
What is the first thing you touch when you sit down?The seat lever. Then the harness.
What noise in the cockpit would stop you mid-sentence?A chime I was not expecting.
Which dial or screen do you look at most?Speed and height. My eyes go around them in a loop.
Who sits in which seat, and why?The captain on the left, the first officer on the right.
Takeoff and landing 14
How do you know when to lift the nose?The other pilot calls the speed. Then I ease back.
How do you line up with a runway you cannot see yet?The instruments guide us down until the lights appear.
How does landing at night differ from landing by day?The runway is a box of lights. Depth is harder to judge.
How long a runway does your plane need?About half of what we usually get. Spare is welcome.
What are you watching during the takeoff roll?Speed, the centerline and the engine gauges.
What do the numbers painted on a runway mean?The direction it points. Runway 27 faces west.
What do you call a good landing?On the centerline, in the right spot. Soft is a bonus.
What do you look at one last time before you line up to go?That the runway ahead is clear.
What do you say to the tower before landing?Who we are, where we are and what we would like.
What does a crosswind do to a landing?It pushes us sideways, so we come in at a slight angle.
What happens if a landing does not look right?We climb away and come around for another try.
What happens in the cockpit right after the wheels touch?Slow down, turn off the runway, then breathe out.
What is the most unusual place you have landed?A gravel strip by a river, its windsock on a fence post.
Which is harder, taking off or landing?Landing. The runway does not come to you.
Weather and the sky 14
How do you get around a storm?Look at the radar, ask for a new route, go wide.
How does wind change how long a flight takes?A tailwind once got us in forty minutes early.
How far ahead can you see weather coming?On a clear day I have watched a storm from eighty miles off.
What do you do when the weather turns bad where you are headed?Wait in the air a while, or go to the spare airport we planned.
What do you read in a forecast that most people skip?Wind at different heights, and how low the cloud sits.
What does it look like inside a cloud?Gray and bright, like fog with a lamp behind it.
What does the sky look like above the clouds on a rainy day?Blue, always. That still pleases me.
What happens to the plane on a frosty morning?Ours gets sprayed clean before we go anywhere.
What have you seen in the sky that the passengers missed?A meteor, straight ahead, gone in a second.
What is flying through rain like?Loud on the windshield, and otherwise ordinary.
What is the prettiest sky you have flown through?Pink cloud tops with a full moon above them.
What kind of cloud do you like least?The tall dark kind with a flat top.
What weather keeps you on the ground?Thunderstorms near the field, or freezing rain.
Which season is the trickiest to fly in where you are based?Winter. Ice, short days and low cloud.
Training 13
Does a new pilot need more nerve or more patience?Patience. Nerve gets you into trouble.
How do you learn a type of plane you have never flown?Weeks of study, then the simulator, then the real thing.
How many hours did you fly before your first solo?About fifteen, with an instructor beside me.
How often does a pilot get tested?Twice a year for me, in the simulator.
What did you fly first, and what came after it?A two-seat trainer, then a four-seater, then twins.
What did your instructor say that you still hear?"Fly the plane first. Everything else second."
What do you still practice, even now?Crosswind landings. Nobody is ever done with those.
What goes into a pilot's logbook?The date, the plane, where from, where to, and how long.
What happens in a flight simulator session?Two pilots, a copy of the cockpit and every problem at once.
What surprised you most in flight school?How much of it is weather and math.
What was the hardest thing to learn in a plane?Talking on the radio and flying at the same time.
Which licenses did you earn, and in what order?Private first, then instrument, then commercial.
Who was the best pilot you ever flew beside?A quiet captain who never once raised her voice.
Hard ones 13
How do you keep calm when the plan changes fast?One thing at a time, out loud, in order.
How do you know you are too tired to fly?When I read a line twice and still miss it, I say so.
How do you stay sharp when a flight is long and nothing is happening?Small tasks on a schedule, and we talk through what-ifs.
How much of flying is skill and how much is planning?One part hands, three parts homework.
What do you do when you and the other pilot disagree?Say it out loud, early. Then we take the careful choice.
What does the job cost you that passengers never see?Birthdays, some holidays and a normal bedtime.
What has flying taught you lately that you did not know a year ago?A neater way to brief a landing, from a first officer half my age.
What is the difference between a legal flight and a wise one?The rules give the minimum. I like a margin on top.
What is the hardest decision a pilot makes before leaving the ground?To stay there. Saying no to a flight takes practice.
What part of flying do you find hardest to put into words?Why it is still fun after ten thousand hours.
What will pilots still do when planes fly more of the trip themselves?Decide. A computer follows the plan. We change it.
What would you change about the way pilots are trained?More time in small planes before the big ones.
Which mistake of your own taught you the most about flying?Rushing a checklist once. I never have since.
For a class visit 15
Can kids be pilots when they grow up?Yes. Start by asking questions, like you are now.
Can you see my house from the plane?Maybe the roof, on a clear day, if we are low.
Do you ever fly upside down?Not at work. Once, in a small plane, with a teacher.
Does the plane sleep at your house?No. It stays at the airport overnight.
Have you ever seen a bird from the cockpit?Yes, near the ground. A hawk kept up with us for a moment.
Have you flown through a cloud?Lots of times. It looks like fog and feels like nothing.
How did you learn to fly?In a tiny plane with a teacher next to me, one lesson a week.
How do you find the right airport?A map on a screen, and people on the radio who help.
How do you talk to the airport?On the radio, with a headset like big earmuffs.
How fast does your plane go?Fast enough to cross the state before lunch.
How high do you fly?Higher than the clouds on most days.
Is it scary up there?No. It is calm, and I have practiced a lot.
What is the most fun part of flying?My office window.
What is your favorite button?The one that turns on the landing lights.
Who flies the plane when you eat lunch?The other pilot. We take turns.
How it works
These good questions to ask a pilot need no flying knowledge: what takeoff feels like from the front seat, what is in the flight bag, what passengers get wrong. Six more groups go from the cockpit to a class visit.
Read the full guide
Smart questions to ask pilots
The sheet opens on twelve of the twenty in Good ones to start with. For questions that show some reading, set the box under Print this list to The cockpit, Takeoff and landing or Weather and the sky: who sits in which seat, what the numbers painted on a runway mean.
Hard questions to ask a pilot
Hard ones holds thirteen that take a pilot a minute to answer, such as the hardest decision before leaving the ground. None asks about an accident. The example answers are an invented pilot's; on paper they go on a last page you can leave out.
Questions and answers
What are the best questions to ask pilots?
Ones only a pilot can answer: which part of a flight keeps you busiest, how do you know where you are with only cloud outside, what habit from flying do you keep at home.
What can kids ask a pilot on a class visit?
Short ones to say aloud: how high do you fly, who flies the plane when you eat lunch, what is your favorite button. For a class visit holds fifteen.
What is the difference between a captain and a first officer?
Both are pilots and they normally share the flying. The captain is the commander and stays responsible for the aircraft. The first officer, also called the co-pilot, is second in command and traditionally sits in the right-hand seat of an airplane.
What do the numbers on a runway mean?
A runway is named by a number from 01 to 36, generally its magnetic compass heading in tens of degrees. Runway 09 points east, 18 south, 27 west and 36 north, and each direction of one strip has its own number.