Airline Pilots facts

While investigating facts about Airline Pilots Association and Airline Pilots Salary, I found out little known, but curios details like:

A Southwest Airlines Pilot once held a plane for 12 minutes, to allow a man to see his dying 2 year old Grandson for one last time.

how airline pilots schedules work?

Most airlines have a rule stating that pilots and copilots cannot eat the same meal to avoid food poisoning.

What airline pilots make the most money?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what airline pilots make. Here are 50 of the best facts about Airline Pilots Forum and Airline Pilots Central I managed to collect.

what airline pilots get paid the most?

Nearly half of all airline pilots admit to falling asleep during a flight. 29 percent of these reported waking up and seeing everyone else in the cabin asleep as well.
An airline pilot ordered 30 pizzas for his passengers after finding they would be delayed for weather. The pizzas were cleared by security and sent directly to the plane.
The king of the Netherlands worked as a pilot for a commercial airline even after assuming the throne. He would welcome passengers "on behalf of the captain and crew" in order avoid announcing his name.
An airline pilot ordered 30 pizzas for his passengers, after finding out they would be delayed 2 hours for weather. The pizzas were delivered within 30 minutes by Domino’s and were cleared by security and sent directly to the plane in an official airport vehicle.
In 1987 a former airline worker shot his boss mid-flight, causing the stewardess to tell the pilot "we have a problem". The pilot asked "what kind of problem?", and at that moment the man shot the stewardess dead and announced "I'm the problem" before murdering the pilots and crashing the plane
The pilot episode of the Lone Gunmen was about a conspiracy of the US government to hijack an airline and fly it into the World Trade Center to start a profit making war. It aired March 4, 2001.
On May 25, 2000, Philippines Airlines flight 812 was hijacked by a man who robbed the passengers of their valuables and then asked the pilot to depressurise the plane so that he could jump out. He was pushed by a flight attendant out from the plane and his body was found three days later.
The pilot who successfully ditched Flight 1549 in the Hudson River in 2009 was an expert on airline safety, an NTSB accident investigator, published a paper on airline crew psychology in a crisis, and had his pilot's certificate in gliders.
Airline pilots must observe a 'Sterile Cockpit Rule' below 10,000 feet - that is no non-essential conversations.
In 2009 two Northwest Airlines pilots lost their licenses when they overshot their planned destination by 150 miles, only realizing their mistake when a flight attendant asked about landing. The pilots were both on their personal laptops and ignored inquiries from flight control for 90 minutes.

airline pilots facts — What do airline pilots make?

Why are vectors useful for airline pilots?

You can easily fact check why do airline pilots say heavy by examining the linked well-known sources.

Airline pilots in the 1930s and 40s would navigate by listening to a stream of automated "A" and "N" Morse codes when visibility was poor. They would turn the aircraft to the right when hearing an "N" stream, to the left on an "A" stream and fly straight ahead while hearing a steady tone.

Over the next 20 years, a new pilot will need to be trained and ready to fly a commercial airliner every 15 minutes in order to meet demand. - source

The Police in the United States have a lesser mortality rate per 100k than the following jobs: Fishermen, roofers, farmers, taxi drivers, cement manufacturers, logging workers & airline pilots. - source

Airline pilots deliberately touch down hard on the runway when it's raining, to minimize aquaplaning.

Some airlines require a pilot and co-pilot to consume different meals from each other, in case one makes you sick - source

When do airline pilots have to retire?

A test pilot for the Boeing 707 airplane prototype performed a roll in front of the audience attending an international airline summit in Seattle. When asked what he was doing by his boss, he replied "selling airplanes."

How airline pilots find their destination?

An airline exists that offers the "Flight of Fancy" package, which allows customers to join the Mile High Club. It includes chocolates, champagne, and a "discreet" pilot.

After explosion of faulty engine LOT Polish Airlines pilots fought for control of burning aircraft for 30 minutes. They almost made it back to the airport. About 2 minutes from the runway the aircraft crashed into a forest. Last recorded crew message was "Good night! Goodbye! Bye, we're dying!"

A 'rigged' edition of Monopoly with hidden maps, real money, escape tools, etc. was distributed in care packages to WW2 PoWs in Germany. Airline pilots were trained to recognize the rigged edition before deployment.

In 1963, US Marine pilot Cliff "Jud" Judkins ejected from his plane and fell 15k feet into the Pacific Ocean when his parachute failed. He survived and returned to the cockpit 6 months later and went on to a career as a pilot for Delta Airlines.

There is a Canadian Airline called Air Inuit that goes to remote regions in the north. It had the first Inuk woman pilot to reach the rank of captain

When do airline pilots retire?

Most airline forbid their pilots from eating the same meal on a flight. That way, in the event that one type of meal is contaminated, both of the pilots won't succumb to food poisoning

David Burke, a disgruntled ex-employee of an airline company who was able to board a plane, shoot his former boss and the pilots, and crashed the plane, killing a total of 43 people.

Iron Maiden's lead singer, Bruce Dickinson, is also a commercial airline pilot and has flown the band's chartered Boeing 757 "Ed Force One", along with other high profile flights.

Air Transat Flight 236 lost both engines over the Atlantic, and set a glide record for a commercial airliner of 120km as the pilot successfully made an emergency landing at Lajes Air Base in the Azores.

Antoine began to fly again in 1926 as a postal flight pilot. He worked as the airline stopover manager in South Morocco in the Sahara. His duties also involved negotiating the release of fliers who were taken hostage after they were downed.

How airline pilots are paid?

A four year old girl was the sole survivor of a major airline crash that killed 148 others on board due to pilot error. She was found strapped into her seat several feet from the bodies of her parents and brother.

In 1930, Ellen Church (a licensed pilot herself) persuaded airlines to change their minds about hiring females by challenging them: "Don’t you think that it would be good psychology to have women up in the air? How is a man going to say he is afraid to fly when a woman is working on the plane?".

Many airline pilots are not paid, and actually pay out of their own pocket for the "privilege" to gain experience hours on a particular aircraft

During the 9/11 attacks, fighter jets were dispatched to intercept the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93, believed to be heading to Washington. Since there was no time for the combat jets to be armed with missiles, the pilots were told to ram into the aircraft in order to neutralize it.

An airliner with 75 people onboard crashed because the pilot let his 16yo son play with the controls

Tex Johnson, a Boeing test pilot, was to demonstrate the then-new 707 to a group of airline executives by doing a level fly by. Instead, he barrel-rolled the aircraft. When called in by his boss and asked what the hell he was doing, he said "Selling airplanes."

A bomb exploded midair on Philippine Airlines Flight 434. With the control cable damaged caused by the bomb, the pilot was able to land the damaged plane, saving hundreds of lives.

Iron Maiden had their own branded airplane to transport the band, their gear and some lucky fans. It was flown by lead singer Bruce Dickinson, a pilot for the airline Astraeus that provided the plane.

In 2011 an airline pilot went on a tirade about how his attendants were all "gays, grannies and grandes". Hit mic was hot the whole time, he was blocking tower radio traffic, and he continued even after a station broke in to warn him of the hot mic.

The F16's dispatched to locate flight UA93 on 9/11 were unarmed, and the pilots formulated a plan as to how they were going to 'kamikaze' ram the civilian airliner with their own aircraft.

NASA had invented memory foam in the 1970s as seat cushioning and crash protection for airline pilots and passengers.

The King William Alexander of The Netherlands is also an occasional airline pilot

On 9/11, US and Canadian officials believed that a fifth airliner had been hijacked. The pilots of Korean Air Flight 85 had sent out a message with the abbreviation "HJK", a code for hijack, due to a translation error.

This is our collection of basic interesting facts about Airline Pilots. The fact lists are intended for research in school, for college students or just to feed your brain with new realities. Possible use cases are in quizzes, differences, riddles, homework facts legend, cover facts, and many more. Whatever your case, learn the truth of the matter why is Airline Pilots so important!