0726: "Seat Selection"

[floreal]

Pretty bad timing for Polish readers, considering http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Polis ... -154_crash - could've been fun otherwise.

or MAYBE.... this is the very REASON the plane crashed?
i sense a conspiracy here

nah really... nice comic^^

and i lolled at

Am i the only one surprised to read in this thread about people having been using an imaginary program/terminal like one in the comic for real?

dont think you have been flying alot its a very common system ^^

[Plasma Man]

Cockpit - good
Cabin - ok
Wing - bad
Nose - worse
Engine - death

Excellent comic, the "WOOOOOOOOOOO" made it for me.

[musashi1600]

There actually is seating on the flight deck for passengers that aren't part of the plane's crew on commercial aircraft; it's only availiable to check pilots (pilots who act as flying examiners for other pilots applying for or renewing a license) or other crew members that are deadheading (traveling for free on the plane) because they need to be somewhere. (Frank Abagnale Jr. is famous for regularly posing as a Pan Am pilot so he could fly for free, among other things.)

[tastelikecoke]

laughed at this, remembering the movie Up in The Air.

If I don't know, Pilots usually wear sunglasses. Especially the old pilots. Isn't the cockpit a bit spacey? maybe 8 people can book there?

[Steax]

Anyone here ever wonder how successfully some guy in the tower can "talk you down" like in the movies? Has this ever happened?

I'm pretty confident that someone with a moderate amount of knowledge on aircraft can at least partially bring it down, but it's not easy if the first time they get their hands on a plane is when they're on a 747. I can tell you for sure not to take people who say they "think" can pilot a plane, because chances are they'll be thinking of a video game or movie.

Getting a commercial airliner to bank 45 degrees is a very, very bad idea.

[Quicksilver]

Anyone here ever wonder how successfully some guy in the tower can "talk you down" like in the movies? Has this ever happened?

You wouldn't need to if you've had experience behind the controls of a video game

[Steax]

Anyone here ever wonder how successfully some guy in the tower can "talk you down" like in the movies? Has this ever happened?

TYou wouldn't need to if you've had experience behind the controls of a video game

Video game or simulator? It's very different maneuvering a commercial airliner compared to a fighter plane. Banks and changing altitude is done gradually (not "point your nose down and turn up the throttle"), something that a lot of people have yet to grasp due to watching TV/games (makes sense though, as doing a 180 degree turn takes a long time and makes for bad movie material).

I don't think most people would even be able to line up with the runway properly. Or for that matter, even find an airport to go to.

Which is why the pilot seat is not a choice on those web seat selections.

[Impulse]

I have been known on several occasions to land an F15.

... In LockOn.

A 747 in Microsoft Real Life, might prove to be a different matter.

[MrGuy]

Shortest alt-text ever?

Not even close. http://xkcd.com/25/

[anclag]

Pilots wear sunglasses all the time!
It's all well and good having shades/visors positioned around the flight deck, but when you're constantly changing heading, the easiest thing to do is wear sunglasses, which are permanently in the right place. Then you fly in autumn/winter where the sun spends a long time at low levels in the sky, right in your line of sight and you want as much shade as you can get.

Anyone here ever wonder how successfully some guy in the tower can "talk you down" like in the movies?

The most likely scenario would be talking them through an autoland, which is fairly easy to set up (when you know how). The problem is that every aircraft type is different and air traffic control wouldn't be able to explain it, so it'd have to be a pilot, trained on type that led them through the procedure. As far as the movies go, where it's usually hand flying, in bad weather, with all sorts of things broken, low on fuel, using a radio which hasn't been retuned in hours, so that you're not even talking to the right people (if anyone at all)...not gonna happen

[Carteeg_Struve]

CONTINUTY ERROR WHY WOLD A STICKMAN HAVE A CURSOR OF A HUMEN HAND

Because the cursor's hand is gloved. The hand in side of it is still a straight line.

And before you ask, the reason why a five-finger glove is used instead of the human hand is because a small pure straight line isn't as obvious on the screen.

And before you ask, the reason why a five-finger glove was created in a world of stick-figures is because it allows better control and flexibility than the kitchen-mitt style that has just a big fold-able lump and a thumb... in bed.

[tastelikecoke]

Wouldn't it be weird to see your mouse pointer suddenly become a stick xkcd hand? I would love a cursor for that!

[Vir4030]

Also, why is the pilot wearing sunglasses?

The sunglasses actually make sense. Flying above the clouds, you run into a lot of sun.

The real odd question is... Why are the girl's scarf and hair blowing backwards?

[troggle]

Wouldn't it be weird to see your mouse pointer suddenly become a stick xkcd hand? I would love a cursor for that!

It would be too creepy skeletal for my liking.

[dangr]

Back in the late '70s, early 80's Antilles Air based in the U.S. Virgin Islands flew 18 seat amphibious air planes (Grumman Goose) and sold the co-pilot seat. I flew that seat many times.

[SlyReaper]

Hold on...

You get to choose which seat you get on planes? Whenever I've flown, I just get randomly assigned a seat and there's no choice in the matter.

[LTK]

WOOOOOO

I like it.

[acd]

Anyone here ever wonder how successfully some guy in the tower can "talk you down" like in the movies? Has this ever happened?

There was a Mythbusters episode, where both Jamie and Adam did it on simulator, with help of experienced pilot "on the tower".
http://mythbustersresults.com/episode94

[thevicente]

Cockpit - good
Cabin - ok
Wing - bad
Nose - worse
Engine - death

Excellent comic, the "WOOOOOOOOOOO" made it for me.

I think is more like this:

Cockpit - death, very likely
Cabin - ok
Wing - death
Nose - death
Engine - death

But what I'd like to say is: RANDALL, GET OUT OF MY PLANE

[extrablue]

As a Male I am very disgusted with this comment and the obvious sexist undertones. The frightened male pilot balking in the background while the strong female figure enjoys an adrenaline rush. Honestly how can anyone find this funny. I am absolutely furious. This just perpetuates the cultural construct that men in uniform are somehow inferior or bound by workplace/culture norms that a strong female figure

Spoiler:

(or Hanson brother, Jesus with a scarf, Hippy, nongenderedlonghairedperson etc)

is not. Disgusting!!!

[Amarantha]

Wouldn't it be weird to see your mouse pointer suddenly become a stick xkcd hand? I would love a cursor for that!

It would be too creepy skeletal for my liking.

Even better. I think I would pay actual money to get a Xykon hand for a cursor


Having just got back from Europe, my first reaction to the comic was, "Why didn't we think of that!"

[Gazared]

Also, why is the pilot wearing sunglasses?

The sunglasses actually make sense. Flying above the clouds, you run into a lot of sun.

The real odd question is... Why are the girl's scarf and hair blowing backwards?

Gravity?
I think they're not blowing, but falling, since the plane's at an angle.

Also, GET OUT OF MY HEAD RANDALL. Last night I had a dream in which I had to land a plane. On my own. In Canada. I could have died.

[zapato]

Looking closer at this comic, I realized that the girl's hair and scarf were fluttering in the wind... inside the cockpit.

Assuming there is no significant airflow inside the cockpit of the plane, this should not be. But then I looked even closer; the plane is at an angle. Therefore, it must be accelerating to its cruising velocity and altitude! If the plane were accelerating the inertia of the girl's scarf and hair could cause it to flutter, but this runs into another problem. The mass of a scarf and hair is not significant in comparison to the collective mass of air molecules, meaning the scarf wouldn't flutter in a standard pressure (or close to it) environment.

I thought to myself, "Maybe there's no air inside the cockpit?" but a co-worker quickly debunked this idea: while acceleration within an airless environment could cause the scarf and hair to be level with the ground, they still could not flutter since fluttering requires air resistance.

I attempted to uncover some previous unknown property of physics to explain this, but I found a better answer: that girl has ESP. The answer was right in front of me the entire time! The only thing that can cause flutter is indeed airflow! The passenger seating area of the plane must be rapidly losing pressure causing air to flow from the cockpit. The girl, using her superhero-like powers, knew this would happen and conveniently set herself up to be the heroine by saving the plane as its pilot.

I wonder if she knows how to fly a plane?

[The Cat]

Nice way to start the day.

[SpringLoaded12]

Whoo, it's been a while since I've posted. I'll keep it brief.

It's standard procedure that trained pilots are banned from becoming commercial airline pilots if they plan on screaming "WOOOOOOO" as they fly. They require that you keep calm and not have too much fun with your multiple-ton flying slab of metal.

[follower]

If you do this using the Air New Zealand seat selector (certainly the online one--not 100% sure about the airport kiosks) it'll say "The pilot has to sit there!" or something along those lines.

--Philip;

[Balesk Baj, Timeburner]

Maybe the guy with sunglasses is actually a terrorist about to hijack the plane when he suddenly discovered who was flying the plane...

[mowdownjoe]

Anyone here ever wonder how successfully some guy in the tower can "talk you down" like in the movies? Has this ever happened?

MythBusters tried it with a simulator. It worked well for them.

[jlane628]

Just logged on to buy a flight and picked my seat this morning, so GOOMHR. I went for the more traditional seat in the cabin...

[Blackjack]

RE: Clicking on the wing

"Theres SOME-thing OUT-there... on the WING" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhk4HcxhZQM

You too could be that thing.

Dangit, you stole the joke I was gonna make.

EDIT:

TYou wouldn't need to if you've had experience behind the controls of a video game

Video game or simulator? It's very different maneuvering a commercial airliner compared to a fighter plane. Banks and changing altitude is done gradually (not "point your nose down and turn up the throttle"), something that a lot of people have yet to grasp due to watching TV/games (makes sense though, as doing a 180 degree turn takes a long time and makes for bad movie material).

I don't think most people would even be able to line up with the runway properly. Or for that matter, even find an airport to go to.

Which is why the pilot seat is not a choice on those web seat selections.

Someone didn't see SoaP.

PRAISE BE TO THE PLAYSTATION

[jacog]

Anyone here ever wonder how successfully some guy in the tower can "talk you down" like in the movies? Has this ever happened?

TYou wouldn't need to if you've had experience behind the controls of a video game

Reminds me of this trope: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IKnowMortalKombat

MythBusters tried it with a simulator. It worked well for them.

Aaah yeah, MythBusters, I should have guessed - but then, all of geekdom is connected in infinitely intertwining strands. In fact, every geek "thing" is probably less than 3 connected steps away from any other geek thing.

[rdm_box]

Looking closer at this comic, I realized that the girl's hair and scarf were fluttering in the wind... inside the cockpit.

Assuming there is no significant airflow inside the cockpit of the plane, this should not be. But then I looked even closer; the plane is at an angle. Therefore, it must be accelerating to its cruising velocity and altitude! If the plane were accelerating the inertia of the girl's scarf and hair could cause it to flutter, but this runs into another problem. The mass of a scarf and hair is not significant in comparison to the collective mass of air molecules, meaning the scarf wouldn't flutter in a standard pressure (or close to it) environment.

I thought to myself, "Maybe there's no air inside the cockpit?" but a co-worker quickly debunked this idea: while acceleration within an airless environment could cause the scarf and hair to be level with the ground, they still could not flutter since fluttering requires air resistance.

I attempted to uncover some previous unknown property of physics to explain this, but I found a better answer: that girl has ESP. The answer was right in front of me the entire time! The only thing that can cause flutter is indeed airflow! The passenger seating area of the plane must be rapidly losing pressure causing air to flow from the cockpit. The girl, using her superhero-like powers, knew this would happen and conveniently set herself up to be the heroine by saving the plane as its pilot.

I wonder if she knows how to fly a plane?

Or maybe, she's not actually real. If Randall wants to make the scarf flutter, then it flutters.
(Hoping that you're not going to try to explain the flying ferrets)

edit: On my fifth birthday, whilst flying to New Zealand (via Singapore), I got to go in the cockpit, and they offered me crisps. I didn't like crisps so I didn't have any. That was way back in 2000 and now, even five year-olds are suspected of being terrorists, and so aren't allowed into the cockpit.

[qie_penguin]

Alt-text: "Don't click the wing."

Don't be so sure, the wing seat might not be a bad choice: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62U50F20100401

[fluentinsilence]

I'm flying in two days, so I'll be trying this. Even if they don't allow me, I'm still going to man the controls.


And then try to bail myself out of prison.

[bjornart]

Anyone else notice that she's sitting on the opposite side than what she clicked on?

[Nikkimaria]

There's actually a related ad campaign going on for an airline that I use. They're promoting their frequent-flyer program with "WestJet dollars have only one seat restriction: You can't have the pilot's".
I also vaguely remember a Dilbert comic where he was "upgraded" from an overhead bin to being duct-taped to the wing.

[jeffk]

There actually is seating on the flight deck for passengers that aren't part of the plane's crew on commercial aircraft; it's only availiable to check pilots (pilots who act as flying examiners for other pilots applying for or renewing a license) or other crew members that are deadheading (traveling for free on the plane) because they need to be somewhere. (Frank Abagnale Jr. is famous for regularly posing as a Pan Am pilot so he could fly for free, among other things.)

(Advance apologies for typos; I'm typing under the influence of laptop kitty.)

Many years ago (pre-9/11 so I doubt they do this anymore), my old company had arrangements with one of the airlines to give jumpseat passes to software engineers so we could see how our software was used.

After a few flights in Row 0, it's really, really hard to go back to Coach

(OK, Row 0.5 technically. Jumpseat's usually right behind the captain.)

On my first trip back in Coach after my pass expired, we were about to land when I heard the engines spool up and felt the plane pull up.

First thought: "Hmm...missed approach."

Second thought: "D*mn, wish I had the jumpseat for this flight!"

BTW, anyone notice that she clicked the captain's seat instead of the first officer's? No need doing things half-way....

[DarthMarth]

I lol'd. Well done, Randall.

[mootinator]

Sheesh, in pop culture all pilots wear aviators! 3/4 of you were born after Top Gun weren't you. *Sigh*

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray-Ban_Aviator

[paste]

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