Ask Captain Lim

Hi Captain Lim,

A really fantastic site you have here. I*ve got some questions to ask:

1. How are passengers in the cabin kept warm from the extremely low temperature outside the aircraft at high altitude?

2. How would a pilot react when he/she picks up a distress code from a passenger plane nearby?

3. When an engine problem arises, how much does a pilot knows about the engine condition by just merely observing from the display panels?

4. Would a pilot strive to maintain height or speed if a sudden engine failure occurs in the oceans with no nearby landing strips are available?

5. How different are the uniforms of pilot from various airlines?

Many thanks!

Sammy

Hi Sammy,

1. The temperature in the aircraft cabin is controlled by the air conditioning system. It makes use of the bleed air from the jet engines. This *hot air* is then mixed with the cool air from the air conditioning system to provide a comfortable temperature of around 24 to 26 degrees Celsius in the cabin. Yes, the temperature outside the plane at high altitude may be around minus 56 degrees Celsius and thanks to the ?hot air? from the bleed system ? passengers are kept cozy inside the cabin!

2. When a plane transmits an emergency distress code, any pilot in the vicinity would relay this message to the air traffic controller on the ground. If this were a real distress message (quite often, there are false messages received from faulty transmitters), the ground controllers would request for more information so as to pinpoint the exact location of the signal before they activate the search and rescue operation.

3. A pilot is notified of the cause of engine problems by the master caution, aural (sound) and visual warning lights. On the Boeing 777 or Airbus A320, the display panels also tell the pilot which engine had failed or was on fire. Yes, he can also see the abnormal readings of the affected engines from the engine instruments.

4. When an engine fails, the plane would stabilize at a best ceiling based on the weight of the plane. It the plane were heavy, it would descend to lower altitude than a lighter one. For instance, if a Boeing 777 were carrying 300 passengers and cruising at 35,000 feet at 260 tons, an engine failure would result in the plane doing a slow descent to around 20,000 feet. It is capable to fly up to 3 hours (or more) on ETOPS at this level on the remaining engine to a suitable airport.

5. Uniforms of pilots are basically white shirts, black or deep blue suit and pants with golden or silver bars. So, the uniforms of different airlines don*t vary very much in terms of color or design except for the company logo on the ?wings? they wear and on the pilots* caps.