Good Lifestyle

If you have already taken a long flight, you know how boringAirplane trip maybe. Passengers like to complain about the sustaining monotony of being stuck on a plane for six hours or more. But if you think it's bad for you, imagine what your drivers must bear. Of course, they have more responsibilities than you hope they have more to keep their brain occupied than by a reversalUnited States today-But not at every moment requires a complete concentration.

"There are often long periods when nothing happens pretty much," saysPatrick Smith, A line driver and author of the memoirCONFIDENTIAL COCKPIT: All you need to know about Air Travel. "You are always looking, monitoring and managing the progression of the flight, as well as keep an eye on the different systems of the plane, but yes, it can become boring there. »

What exactly are the pilots do there at 36,000 feet, when the boredom, and they think nobody pays attention? We decided to discover it. We talked to the pilots, sought after platforms like Quora and Reddit, and even dug in their private and public online forums where they manage to speak anonymously about the things they had ever publicly share indices on what line drivers make for pleasure when they are not focused on maintaining the rest of us alive. Read and be surprised as well.

Many pilots say they like mental challenges such as crosswords or sudoku puzzles during their air the downtime. This may seem perfidious, but these puzzle drivers who like to insist on the fact that it is less distracted than reading a book or watching a movie. "A puzzle will not shoot you for long periods of time," they claim.

If you feel a little guilty of losing all that the aircraft times observationAdam Sandler movies or flipping through grocery stores, it will not make you feel better. Many pilots say they use long flights to get the study done.

A pilot insisted that a colleague actually learned quantum physics during several transatlantic flights between the United Kingdom and South America!

If a pilot is bilingual, there is a good chance, he learned that the second language in the cockpit. The drivers on online forums claimed that they have learned to speak Mandarin and even Hindi while on long oppressive flights. Talk about multi-tasks!

Nowadays, the iPads havebecome a requirement For most drivers. But devices are not intended to check emails or play games. These iPads come loading with all the pilot tools will need for a successful flight, such as weather applications, operational alerts and fuel estimates. They can even "pull up a photo for each crew member", according to an ostensibly pilot for security reasons, not because they use as their staff in flight Amadou.

Some of the jokes the pilots draw on their crew and others can be of doubtful taste, like when two co-drivers have decided to play a tour of their edge agents, claimingone of them was dead. As aggressor demands, he said the head agent, "You can not say one of the other edge agents, and, of course, none of the passengers, but Captain Bob had a massive heart attack a few minutes ago, died instantly, and we covered it at the top. "It's justmean!

Each plan is different, but some larger planes are equippedSecret shifts which are located directly above the first class cabin. These corners can not be accessible by climbing a hidden scale, and private rooms have their own bathroom and, from time to time, a TV. Not all the offers of these luxury airlines, of course, but some offer more benefits to their drivers than even first-class passengers receive. Singapore Airlines, for example, provides supposed satin pillows for drivers on board airbus A380 aircraft.

Automatic (or ADF) gonometry is supposed to be used only as a navigation assistance. But the pierced drivers have been known to use it to "pick up any local news at Hockey St. Louis Blues at Radio Disney,"An admitted driver in an online forum. "It is very convenient on the flights along the night, especially [when you have] not to talk to. »

You know how your father insists to take his Atlas Rand McNally onroad tripsEven if the GPS has made the most often obsolete? Well, the pilots share this passion for road atlas, even if they are far from (I hope) a road.

"Sometimes to kill time, we wear binoculars and a Rand McNally road atlas in the cockpit," an admitted driver on a forum. "I use the binoculars and atlas to see what the highway and the city fly over. If it does not seem dangerous, imagine the driver of a car using the binoculars to watchup To the sky.

As a passenger, you can listen to music on your helmet, but you probably should not sing aloud. There is a little more intimacy in the cockpit. "If you are alone, then it does not matter how much you know," a recognized driver. "Just make you do you do not have a stuck micro and broadcast your debut in the world. »

When the pilots speak to the media, they almost always claim that there is no reading that happens in the cockpit. "You can not read a novel ... You can not read a newspaper ... which is strictly forbidden,"They claimed. But there is another story in the forums, where the pilots boast of reading just about everything during the flights.

"I do not usually the patience to sit down with a book and read while I'm on the ground," a recognized driver. "But when I am myself in the air, I like reading a good book. »

Drivers dine on the same Grub as passengers receive, but not necessarily the same quality. Because the airline can not risk the two pilots foul poisoning, andAirline company food has a preferred quality reputation, they make sureeat different meals. The pilot usually gets the first class meal, and the co-driver the business class meal.

Hey, they are like you! If you have already had a flight and worried about all the ways the plane could break down, you are not alone. Your driver probably thinks the same thing. Even when everything is fine, the spirit of a pilot will wander in the worst scenarios. If there is a motor failure or fire on board, or depressurization, they must be very conscious of the nearestairports For a quick and easy landing.

It is technically against the regulations of the FAA, but pilot selfies still occur with aAlarming regularity. She even gave rise to a deadly aircraft accident in 2014, which, according toan official report, Was caused by pilots "take pictures of self-with their mobile phones. But do not be too concerned; In most cases, if you notice a Selfi Air Driver display at its Instagram page, it is likely thatPhotoshop.

As a passenger, we all reached this point of boredom on a long flight still flipping throughSky Mall istoo boringSo we just look at the windows the clouds. It turns out that the pilots do the same thing, but with a little more goal.

"Most of the time, I'm looking for other planes and look at what I can see the next weather," explained an online driver. While you're just enjoying the ground (or horizon), the pilot is looking for "Grands Cumulus who tend to be bumpy and can be dangerous. »

Just like all co-workers, the pilots like to chat between themselves and their employers. "We are talking about whether our airline is going to buy, which is the merger with whom," said Scott, a commercial pilot for a great American carrier (he refused to name who). "We discuss what management has planned for the future, and all rumors. Aviation is full of rumors. You know, a guy knows the CEO of Morgan Stanley, and they are put in place funding for Another airline To buy our airline. stupid things like that. Ninety percent of rumors do not materialize, but we talk to us anyway ".

For more insiders-tips on travel, here is the 13 The worst airports to fly, according to the pilots .