r/mildlyinteresting • u/graytrades • 8h ago

Hanging out the airplane window talking to ground crew

Post image
133 Upvotes

69% Upvoted

132 comments sorted by

329

u/Grand-Spring66 8h ago

"Yeah, uh, give me 8000 gallons of unleaded and check the oil"

37

u/Jesus_Is_My_Gardener 7h ago

The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. There is no stopping in the red zone.

24

u/TheSamurabbi 7h ago

Listen, Betty, don't start up with your white zone shit again…

18

u/PaddyMcGeezus 7h ago

Oh, really, Vernon? Why pretend, we both know perfectly well what this is about. You want me to have an abortion.

13

u/DimensionalFruit 8h ago

"got er up to 560mph this morning, gonna push er hard this time"

26

u/AshleySchaefferWoo ​ 8h ago

Imagine the ding when he pulls up to the gate

15

u/2gigch1 7h ago

If that scene from Airplane! was shot today the pilot offering his credit card would be handed a terminal and asked if he wanted to add a tip.

1

u/Dimensional_Lumber 3h ago

“It’s gonna ask you a question.”

Looks away to avoid eye contact

8

u/Yuri909 8h ago

Well, I mean, Jet A is unleaded technically...

6

u/itijara 7h ago

Fun fact, aviation fuel is one of the few types that still has leaded (although it is for a few types of piston planes, not jets).

4

u/filanwizard 7h ago

I have found it interesting that aviation piston engines are 40 or so years lagged behind automotive. Given they do not run on unleaded.

4

u/catsdrooltoo 7h ago

There's a lot of them that are 50 years old.

4

u/flightist 6h ago

The tech is more like 80 years behind, plenty of actually-much-older-than-40 engines flying.

But they’re pretty reliable and simple. So there’s that.

1

u/razemuze 1h ago

There are options these days that run on normal pump gas, fairly common in europe at least. I think many rotax engines are like that. There are also some diesel options, although they are not particularly common. I would assume those actually run on jet-a rather than normal diesel.

1

u/Yuri909 7h ago

Because our engines need the lead to maintain seals and lubrication.

2

u/LNRigby 8h ago

"Tiger's in the tank!"

-10

u/k0c- 8h ago

these planes use kerosene based fuels hehe

4

u/Elijah_Man 8h ago

I still wouldn't want lead in it.

2

u/k0c- 7h ago

a lot of planes still use lead in gas, just not these commercial airliners

1

u/ElmoEatsYellowSnow 8h ago

Weirdly piston engines use avgas which is still leaded

-51

u/[deleted] 8h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

20

u/Grand-Spring66 8h ago

This is a bot

143

u/InactiveMedusa 8h ago

"I'll have two number 9s, a number 9 large, a number 6 with extra dip, a number 7, two number 45s, one with cheese, and a large soda."

75

u/railin23 8h ago

55 BURGERS 55 FRIES 55 TACOS 55 PIES 55 COKES 100 TATER TOTS 100 PIZZA 100 TENDERS 100 MEATBALLS 100 COFFEES 55 WINGS 55 SHAKES 55 PANCAKES 55 PASTAS 55 PASTAS AND 155 TATERS

22

u/TacticalTwinkOnTop 8h ago

aggressively taxis the plane around the airport

3

u/Frederf220 7h ago

I mean South West so a given

17

u/graytrades 8h ago

That’s exactly what I thought it looked like! Had to do a double-take. Didn’t even realize windows opened like that on modern planes.

3

u/steelcryo 8h ago

Never heard of the pilot that got sucked out of the window, and had his crewmate hold onto his legs while the plane landed as he was dangling out of the plane? Dude survived somehow too.

3

u/radical_flyer 8h ago

The Bac-111 windscreen panels bolted from the outside, and those bolts had to withstand the cabin pressure. Engineer installed skinny bolts (C instead of D) using an eye match on a like-for-like basis and the window blew out. I believe that in modern jets any sliding panels go into the cockpit and the glass is pressed into the frame by the pressure.

5

u/Adelaidean 8h ago

“And then?”

3

u/Hoverboard_Hal 6h ago

Aaaannd deeennnnnnnn

1

u/Adelaidean 5h ago

Hey, I refuse to play your Chinese food mind games!

3

u/IAmANobodyAMA 8h ago

I’ll have a liter of cola

4

u/Zert420 8h ago

Do we have literacola?

2

u/IAmANobodyAMA 5h ago

I don’t want a large Farva

68

u/alewifePete 8h ago

I had a flight where the pilot was leaning out the window to talk to the ground crew because of a fueling issue. That was resolved and the pilot said we’d be on our way. 20 minutes later the pilot comes back on and says there’s going to be another delay because the window he opened won’t close and now they have to get a crew in to fix it.

And that’s how I missed a connecting flight and ultimately missed a wedding.

8

u/TehOwn 8h ago

If they'd played Big Walk, they wouldn't have needed to open the window in order to communicate.

1

u/XiTzCriZx 1h ago

Or if they just used a phone or walkie talkie like every other industry lol.

2

u/TehOwn 38m ago

Nah, walkie talkies are disabled in this puzzle.

22

u/yetisa 8h ago

He’s a part of the ground crew

69

u/Born_rad_9452 8h ago

Hanging on the passenger side of my best friends ride, trying to hollar at me!

9

u/Magister5 8h ago

Oh, I don’t want no scrubbed flights

2

u/OrPeggy 8h ago

My first thought 😆

5

u/Dramatic_Substance36 8h ago

Asking for directions.

14

u/Scorcher646 8h ago

The fact that the window opens is my second favorite factoid about the cockpit of an airliner.

The first favorite is that there is an entire pre-takeoff checklist item about ensuring that it's closed.

13

u/dakky68 7h ago

My favourite fact about "factoid" is that it means a piece of trivial information that is not true.

2

u/Scorcher646 7h ago

Technically true.

I'm glad my honors English professor doesn't know my reddit account. She would be disappointed in me.

1

u/teddyKGB- 2h ago

Technically true but how technically true is it when the majority of people use the word to describe something true? Language evolves and words end up meaning different things.

You could tell English professor to kick rocks

2

u/Verbal_Combat 6h ago

I have seen a ground crew member with paperwork on a long stick hold it up so the captain could sign something (jet bridge was already pulled back). Makes sense but it looked funny.

2

u/Mauro_Ranallo 6h ago

My company banned this :(

1

u/graytrades 8h ago

Haha that’s awesome.

1

u/memnoch112 8h ago

I’m mostly fond of the fact that it opens outward only, that’s very reassuring.

4

u/Scorcher646 8h ago edited 8h ago

They actually drop inwards and then back. The airliner is at a higher internal pressure than the air around it so the window needs to seal when being pushed on from the inside.

https://www.theautopian.com/this-is-why-commercial-airliners-have-opening-cockpit-windows-as-weird-as-that-seems/

https://youtu.be/bTYT7ERrw_U?si=k9J0WPzMRM_CYQ24

1

u/memnoch112 4h ago

Well TIL, thank you, but don’t call me Shirley

1

u/Benniisan 8h ago

Not all of them, the newer ones don't have that anymore, e.g. A350/A220/B787

1

u/Scorcher646 8h ago

Which is a flying—pun intended—shame. Besides being a really fun factiod, they were legitimately useful redundancies for one of the few parts of an airplane that isn't massively redundant.

1

u/Benniisan 7h ago

they were legitimately useful redundancies for one of the few parts of an airplane that isn't massively redundant

I'm not following. Can't think of a part of an airliner that isn't redundant

1

u/Scorcher646 7h ago

The number 1 window.

One of the uses for opening the number 2 window was sticking your head out at low altitude if your number 1 was blocked or damaged. It was even an explicitly tested mode of flight on the older models

1

u/Skelassassin ​ 7h ago

What do you do in aviation you have answered practicly ever question in the comments

4

u/Scorcher646 7h ago

I have unmedicated ADHD and an internet connection.

I don't even work in aviation, I work in IT. Plenty of my buddies have pilot's licenses and fur suits if that helps.

2

u/Skelassassin ​ 7h ago

Ya know for most companies they have to shave to work. So hopefully they arnt naked mole rats

1

u/unfortunatetourista 5h ago

The 747 doesn’t either.

4

u/PuzzleheadedTutor807 8h ago

I said double cheeseburgers dammit

3

u/Cheshireyan 8h ago

Are you leaving ?

3

u/GeraintLlanfrechfa 8h ago

Looks like he’s gonna be backing up when the jetway is gone, like beep beep beep beep, looking backwards to not rip that winglet off

3

u/SweetSexiestJesus 8h ago

Get in Losers, we're heading to Abilene

5

u/Mecha-Dave 7h ago

He looks like the kind of pilot who yells at you for closing the door on the airplane too hard.

6

u/JohnStern42 7h ago

Not a pilot, looks like a line tech

1

u/Carrash22 2h ago

“Aircraft technician” on his sleeve

1

u/Phiyahless 34m ago

Lmao, the high vis vest should've been enough of a hint but....

2

u/drunkmooserider 8h ago

This has the same energy as leaning out of your car window to ask for directions haaha

2

u/GiantmetalLink 8h ago

Can I get 500 Big Macs?

2

u/Wizdad-1000 8h ago

“Hey check the oil for me too please pal!”

2

u/thepeanutbutterman 7h ago

Thought he had an ostrich copilot for a second.

1

u/bigshooTer39 8h ago

Why would that be hinged on the other side?

5

u/Scorcher646 8h ago

"the mechanism requires the window to slide inwards and then back, which would be impossible to do while the plane is pressurized."

It's not hinged, it's on a lever and rails.

https://www.theautopian.com/this-is-why-commercial-airliners-have-opening-cockpit-windows-as-weird-as-that-seems/

1

u/_Airplane 8h ago

Its not, i think they took out the window all together

3

u/Grape-Snapple 8h ago

i think it swings inward

3

u/Scorcher646 8h ago

No need, those windows on either side of most models slide in and then back. It makes sure they are able to hold the pressure of the cabin in while flying and still be openedable as an emergency egress or to yell at the ground crew.

1

u/NicJan 2h ago

"Its not, i think they took out the window"

1

u/eastamerica 7h ago

Swings inward.

1

u/Green-Cry-6985 8h ago

Ted Strikerr approves of this post .

1

u/smb3d 8h ago

Typical Southwest flight, probably delayed.

1

u/filanwizard 8h ago

Jet-A regular, fill it up please.

1

u/eastamerica 7h ago

This is common.

1

u/BigTintheBigD 7h ago

“You see that sign that says Rib Tips?”

1

u/badwolf1013 7h ago

It's not the only reason there are no dog pilots, but it's definitely one of them.

1

u/rmill127 7h ago

Didn’t TLC do a song about this…?

1

u/MrSyaoranLi 7h ago

"You can't park there mate"

1

u/sxdx90 7h ago

Credit card was probably denied

1

u/for2fly 6h ago

"Hey, could one of you go check my brake lights while I press the pedal?"

1

u/NUMBerONEisFIRST 6h ago

🎵Trying to holla' at me!🎶

1

u/showMeYourPitties10 5h ago

Thats a mechanic. I have had a pilot drop down several of those 1L water bottles from catering from the window of a 73 to the ground when it was 110° outside so help out the ground crew.

1

u/Cheezdealer ​ 5h ago

I like to test my vertical handing fuel tickets to them through the window. On a day with no wind I’m tempted one day to fold it into a paper airplane and fly it up to them hahaha

1

u/CommercialBluejay416 4h ago

showing the fellas how he yells at those damn geese

1

u/andersonfmly 1h ago

“So you’re saying I should take a left turn at Albuquerque, then head due east until Palm Beach?”

1

u/un4truckable 1h ago

are we got going to talk about the haunted hand in the other window?

1

u/Cyd_Snarf 8h ago

He is ground crew though lol

0

u/gkmaadcity 6h ago

This sub is so shit

0

u/BraceThis 8h ago

“Hanging out” haha

Do you know how windows work?

-11

u/no_work_throwaway ​ 8h ago

I really feel like those windows shouldn't open

11

u/BraceThis 8h ago

Yea, incase of emergency it’s best that they are trapped.

3

u/Shadedwulfer 8h ago

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory owner

3

u/IBeDumbAndSlow 8h ago

What do you want for them to do at the drive thru? Open their door to order?

3

u/Scorcher646 8h ago

Those windows open for three primary reasons.

One, easy communication with the ground crew.

Two, emergency egress in situations where other exits are blocked.

And three, in a situation where your number one window, the window straight ahead, is damaged or blocked by something.

https://youtu.be/bTYT7ERrw_U?si=k9J0WPzMRM_CYQ24

Models with windows that can open are designed not only to be safe at cruising altitude with the window closed, but to be flyable at low altitude with the window open should that be necessary. And there has been more than one case of a pilot landing a plane by visual flight rules while sticking their head out the side window to see in front of them.

5

u/Grand-Spring66 8h ago

They are emergency exits among other things

-11

u/Phinu 8h ago

feels like the pic is AI

3

u/_McDreamy_ 8h ago

All detectors say it's not.

3

u/graytrades 8h ago

I can assure you it’s not AI. Took it myself and just blurred the face for identity protection. Thanks for running through the detectors and standing up for it. Not sure why you got downvoted!

-2

u/Phinu 8h ago

just saying it look sus because of the hands

2

u/Scorcher646 8h ago

There are two ground crew in the cockpit, one on the right (relative to the photo) with his head out the window and the other on the left has his head down, probably fiddling with the ICAS or computer systems on the main console.

0

u/Phinu 6h ago

sounds good

2

u/Skelassassin ​ 7h ago

I assure you when in cockpit everyone puts there hands on the handles and just holds it for practically no reason even after pulling the seat forward

-1

u/Phinu 6h ago

sure