2 22.
Hollywood versus reality.
Ga 950. Punch it!
Coming up!
Hey, 74 crew! Welcome back!
If you don't know me, my name is Kelsey.
I'm a 747 pilot.
My channel, 74 gear, is all about aviation.
Since I started doing this ATC versus pilot series,
a lot of you suggested I do the air traffic control movie,
2 22.
I put a link to the movie down in the description
below if you want to check out the full movie
and if you have a movie that you want to see
on this Hollywood versus reality series,
the two easiest places to submit an idea
is on my Instagram 74gear
or on the free forum 74gear.com
All right! Let's get into it!
AA 7349, wind 360 at 15. Line up runway 4 left,
clear for take-off.
Good day to you, Sir.
7349, clear for take-off.
Good day right back at you, Sir.
A lot of metal in the air today, people. Let's focus, alright?
Ha 399 taxi via delta, Alpha
and hold short of Juliet.
Ca 135, contact tower 23.9
Contacting tower 23.9.
She's all yours, buddy.
Okay.
Ca 135, awaiting final runway clearance.
Ca 135, line up runway 22 right. Clear for take-off.
Contact departures 35 zero one zero point.
Ca 135 clear for take-off.
Okay, here's the first lot of 10 downstairs
that are going to be jammed up for the next half-hour.
I know you love a bit of chaos.
Ea 39, square the base, reduce to minimum speed now.
Ea 39 squaring the base, reducing to minimum speed. Pulling her right back.
Don't make me look bad.
You send that metal bitch around and you owe 10 bucks to the drinking fund.
Awaiting final landing instructions.
Three, two, one,
Ca 135 takes off...
UA 39 lands.
Damn!
Attaboy.
Wow! There is a lot to cover here.
First thing he says to American is the winds,
then he says line up and then clear for takeoff on the same thing.
Listen to what he says here.
AA 7349, wind 360 at 15. Line up runway 4 left, clear for take-off.
Just about everything that he said here is Hollywood.
Every airline has a two-digit code.
So for example, American Airlines their two-digit code is AA.
So he calls them AA.
That's not how it worked. They'd go by their call sign American.
Then he says the wind 360 at 15.
Now, it is true that when you get clear for takeoff
in some cases, the controllers will give you the winds
but they will not give you the winds like the way he's saying here.
360 at 15.
Usually, they say 360 at 15 knots
or 360 maybe at 15 knots. They'll say something like that.
But not clumping it all together.
They clear up and they say each individual number by itself generally speaking,
so that way there's no confusion by clumping them together.
360 could maybe sound like 316
even though Air traffic control and pilots only deal in tens of degrees.
But the reason they split it up like that is just so there's no confusion.
Which then brings me to the final thing which he said was
Line up runway 4 left, clear for take-off.
Well obviously, the pilots are going to line up on that runway
before they are cleared for takeoff.
You'll be given two different things when you get on the runway.
You're either going to be told line up and wait
which means you get your aircraft into the middle,
lined up on the runway, getting ready for takeoff
which is something that they'll do if they have some landing traffic
or something else is going on
and there's somebody that's turning in front of your path
but they want to get you in the position ready to go.
So let's say "Line up and wait"
or the other thing they'll do is before you even get onto the runway,
they'll say 4 left cleared for takeoff.
So what it would actually sound like in real life would be American 123
Runway 4 left, cleared for takeoff.
Or American 123 wind 360 at 15 knots
Runway four left, cleared for takeoff.
Those are the two ways that you would hear that
as a pilot and Air traffic control would be saying it to you.
Now that I explained that, listen to the first five seconds again.
AA 7349, wind 360 at 15. Line up runway 4 left, clear for take-off.
In this first clip, they obviously don't use the call signs at all
as they go through this first clip.
So I'm not going to beat up every single individual airline that they don't use.
Just realize that they're always going to call you by your call sign
unless they don't know what your call sign is.
But in a place like JFK which is a base for American,
they know that would be American.
Next, you see this plane pulling onto the runway
and asking for a final clearance.
Ca 135, awaiting final runway clearance.
The only two things that you're going to get
when you get onto the runway is line up and wait
or you're clear for takeoff.
So if you're just pulling onto the runway,
it means you just got told to line up and wait
because you obviously weren't cleared for takeoff
so you'd be pulling onto the runway
and you wouldn't be pulling onto the runway saying:
"Hey! I'm ready to go". That's not how it work.
If you were sitting on there for a while
and you thought maybe they forgot about you,
you might say something like:
"Boeing 123 on runway 4 left, ready for takeoff".
Or something along those lines just to let them know:
"Hey! you're here in case that you got forgotten about" which
sometimes happens.
But you definitely wouldn't be saying that as you were pulling on the runway
because you would have just been given the instructions to line up and wait.
Now, this next part has some correct parts
and a lot of Hollywood parts.
Ca 135, line up runway 22 right. Clear for take-off.
Contact departures 35 zero one zero point.
Ca 135 clear for take-off.
Every runway has a number to it.
You've heard him say runway two two left
or runway four left or runway whatever
and those numbers are based on a compass heading.
I talked about it in the "Catch me if you can" video
because they talked about
I don't know, runway three nine or some number that doesn't exist.
Oh, look! That's LaGuardia right there.
Runway four four.
It's all based on runway three six meaning directly north and then
obviously, going from there all the way around.
So if you were to have runway 22, your plane would be taking off going Southwest.
If you're on runway 4, you'd be taking off going north east.
And that's how it's laid out.
Every airport is the same, everywhere in the world.
But to avoid confusion, we don't say things like 22 left.
You say runway 2-2 left.
Now, has it happened that people made mistakes and said 22 left?
Yes, I've done it myself.
I'm not proud of it but sometimes it happens.
But it's definitely not the norm like you're seeing here.
An air traffic controller, especially,
wouldn't be continually saying something like that
because people would get annoyed with them.
Also, you will typically get your departure frequency
which is the frequency of the people you speak to after you get up in the air.
You're typically given that when you get your clearance.
Your clearance is when Air traffic control verifies that the flight plan that
you have planned for
that they agree that that's the route you're going to fly,
typically, they will give you that departure frequency right there
because they know, once you get up in the air, you're going to be pretty busy.
In some airports and some places in the world,
they will give it to you while you're headed out there,
headed out to the runway,
or in some cases when you're up in the air.
And for all of my Air traffic control people that are listening outside of the US,
it's much much easier to give it to us on the ground
because a lot of times you know what it's going to be.
So if you give it to us on the ground, we can plug everything in there
and that way when they say: "Over to departure" we just have to hit a button
and we're not busy
because we're going to be busy with flaps and different call outs
and different things
in that stage of flight so it's easier to have it loaded up and ready to go.
However, it does happen so we could go ahead and say that is real.
Watch this again.
Ca 135, line up runway 22 right. Clear for take-off.
Contact departures 35 zero one zero point.
Something that is not real and makes no sense however
is the fact that they're taking off and landing on the same runway
going opposite directions.
AA 7349, wind 360 at 15. Line up runway 4 left, clear for take-off.
Ca 135, line up runway 22 right. Clear for take-off.
You heard them say, I think, clear for takeoff four left
and then shortly thereafter you're cleared for takeoff two two right.
That is a reciprocal runway.
So you have one taking off one direction and one taking off the other direction.
That's not how it works.
There are some places in the world where they will land a direction
and take off a direction and use the opposite like that on the same runway
because of mountains or air flow traffic or things like that.
But in a place like JFK, that's not how it's gonna work.
Everyone's gonna be taking off the same direction,
everyone's gonna be landing the same direction.
You might have intersecting runways
but you're not gonna have guys taking off four left
and then another guy taking off two two right.
That is 100% Hollywood.
Then you have this pilot saying they're awaiting final landing instructions.
Awaiting final landing instructions.
First, nobody would ever say that
and second, he doesn't even say his call sign.
So he's just assuming that Air traffic control is going to know who he is.
That's not how it works.
That might happen with a new pilot.
In fact, I heard about it on a future Air traffic control versus pilots video.
There will probably be something about that where there's a new pilot and
he forgot to repeat his call sign and he was from another place
so he was a little bit lost, a little bit flustered
but an airline pilot knows that you're going to need to say your call sign
when you have a request.
And finally the last very Hollywood thing here is
you don't have controllers taking off and landing planes as close as you see here.
In a place like LaGuardia, that's really busy and has very limited space for example,
we used to do this.
You'd see a plane landing one direction and you would take off the other directions.
In a place like JFK where they have a lot more space,
you're typically not going to have guys taking off
and landing in an intersecting way like this.
Okay, so off to a rough start here on 2 22,
but let's see what's next.
Hey, people, come on. Let's clear these boards. What's going on?
Ya 950, hold short 22 right. You're number two to go.
Ya 950 holding short, 22 right.
AA 41 awaiting final take-off instructions.
AA 41, winds 010 at 10, clear for take-off, runway 4 left.
AA 41 cleared for take-off, runway 4 left.
Sir, you need to fasten your seat belt.
Thank you.
This is your captain speaking. Due to cloud cover over the tri-state area
we may experience slight turbulence leading into our descent.
QA 856, departure 23, 9. Good day to you, Sir.
QA 856, good day right back to you, mate.
That Yankee's your bird, right?
Mm-hm.
You wanna tell him something?
Ga 1165, 787 rolling. Caution with turbulence. Wind 312, clear to land
runway 31 left.
SA 841, runway 31 left.
SA 841 prepare for final landing clearance.
SA 841 preparing for final landing clearance.
Prepare for landing.
Cabin crew, prepare for landing.
So all the poor phraseology stuff that I said in the first part of the video
applies for this because obviously,
they didn't get better from the beginning to this clip.
I thought it was funny that they said that they were going to experience turbulence
because of cloud coverage,
which does happen.
But then they showed the passenger looking out the window and this is her view.
Obviously, she can see the ground.
And then, I also found it interesting because
just moments ago, they had planes taking off and it was clear skies.
It's true, when you go through a lot of clouds,
in a lot of cases where there's build up like a rainstorm things like that,
it's going to be bumpy.
But in this, you're not going to have turbulence on the descent
when the cloud level is that high.
Next, you see them giving Qantas the departure frequency on the takeoff roll.
Now, I said that sometimes they'll give it to you when you get into the air,
sometimes they'll give it to you on the way to the runway.
Most of the times, they'll give it to you
while you're sitting on the ground parked at the gate
which is the best time.
Please, send that to us at that time, Air traffic control.
But you're never ever going to get it on the take-off roll.
That is super Hollywood.
Look at this.
QA 856, departure 23, 9. Good day to you, Sir.
QA 856, good day right back to you, mate.
You will also never get a call from Air traffic control saying something like:
"Prepare for landing clearance".
That's basically saying like: "Hey, I'm going to call you in just a minute
and give you some extra information".
Why would you waste up the airway space with something like that?
You will get told something like "Continue",
meaning, you're not cleared to land but we want you to keep coming
but you won't get something like:
Hey, I'm going to call you back in a few minutes
with something else about something about landing.
SA 841 prepare for final landing clearance.
SA 841 preparing for final landing clearance.
The only time that you'll get told something like this,
prepare for something in the future,
is if you're planning to hold.
They might say: "Plan for holding instructions", something like that.
To let you know, you're not going to be landing.
But in this scenario, you're not going to get something like,
prepare for landing instructions later.
That's never going to be a radio call.
So nobody says that except for Hollywood.
And something that is airplane related and very, very Hollywood
is that even I know and I've never flown an Airbus before
but even I know when you're getting ready to land,
you don't take the thrust levers and put them into the Toga detent.
Prepare for landing.
You would only do that if you were planning to do a go around
and the other thing you hear is that they have the captain sitting in the right seat
and the first officer sitting in the left seat.
I mean, it was a 50/50 try
but you got it wrong.
The youtuber Captain Joe actually called me a couple weeks ago
and he said: "Man, you keep doing these Hollywood movies
I bet you Hollywood's going to call you on set".
And I'm pretty sure, if I keep doing things like this one,
and where I roasted "The Wonder Woman" movie
I'm going to be like blacklisted from even going back to LA.
But let's see what's next.
Ga 950, line up runway 22 right. Clear for take-off.
Ga 950, lining up 22 right. Clear for take-off.
- Dylan! You didn't hold 'em?
Yankee? Ah... - Dude, what are you doing?
Kennedy tower, are we still clear to land?
I want you to get Yankee the hell out of there.
Dylan! Tell him to pull up!
SA 841, clear to land.
Clear to land. - Ga 950, punch it!
Okay, Hollywood.
So if you wanted to make turbulence in this particular situation here
where they're getting short and getting ready to land and they hit turbulence
and there is no clouds which we talked about earlier in this video,
it would have been a lot easier to have them landing behind another big jet.
They have something called wake turbulence.
So in this scenario, you could have them landing behind another big jet
and I've experienced this before in smaller aircraft
and you fly into what's known as their wake.
It's where the wind that's generated from the wings
and it creates a really turbulent airspace
and a very short amount of turbulence like you saw here.
So if you wanted to create that impact, that would have been the easier way
and more realistic way to do that.
Now, a plane asking to confirm clearance to land,
that's a real thing.
Yankee? Ah... - Dude, what are you doing?
Kennedy tower, are we still clear to land?
But the transmission would be something more like:
JFK tower, confirm Boeing 123 is cleared to land?
That's what it would sound like in real life.
Not the random transmission without a call sign
to let Air traffic control know who you even are.
And who's asking if they're cleared to land?
They need to know that.
It appears that this guy here is a supervisor
and I'm saying this as a pilot,
I've never worked as an Air traffic controller before
but in my experience, a lot of times supervisors have the ability
to stomp on or step on other controllers.
Which means if a controller is messing something up,
the supervisors are overlooking all the different traffic that's coming in
and they can listen and see everything that's going on
and if there's a controller that's doing something that's unsafe,
this supervisor is able to step on that controller.
Basically prevent them from transmitting
and are able to transmit instructions to the pilots,
to us to do something if it's not safe.
What doesn't happen is three or four people up there arguing about
what to do and then they let the guy who's jacking it all up,
keep doing what he's doing.
Super Hollywood.
To get Yankee to abort the hell out of there.
Next, you have to realize that pilots have the ability
to override Air traffic control
and something that they feel is unsafe.
So you're never going to have a pilot looking out the window with this face
which is better than the other face that they use when they're trying to take off.
But you're never going to have them looking out the window with that face
thinking: "Oh my gosh, I hope this works out okay".
If they feel it's not safe, they say:
"Hey, Boeing 123, we're going around"
and then, it's Air traffic control's job at that point to sequence you back in
to come back in and land.
Okay, and I hope all of you know this thing with punch it is not real.
SA 841, clear to land.
Clear to land. - Ga 950, punch it!
Again, this is an Airbus
but in most airlines, you have the planes taking off in a not max power setting.
And the reason they do that is they want to save the engines
from working at their max capacity.
It allows the engines to last longer,
it saves them. Kind of like driving your car.
If you were going to drive your car everywhere
you were redlining and going as fast as you could,
that engine would die sooner.
It's the same thing with a plane.
But in theory,
if you were going down the runway and there was something wrong
and you needed to add power,
you could do what they did here
but you would never have Air traffic control do that.
It just not how it work.
What 100% Hollywood.
Even if all of the stuff that's happened in this was real,
which almost none of it is,
even if it was,
the pitch angle that they have of this landing aircraft is so steep
that if it were to continue to land at this pitch angle,
it would eventually have a tail strike.
That means the tail of the aircraft hits before the main landing gear hits.
And you never ever want to do that.
It's unsafe and it's happened before.
But you definitely would never pitch your aircraft up this high in the air
for this exact reason.
So even the graphics people mess up on this one and I get it,
I look at planes landing all the time.
So I know what the normal pitch angle would look like.
If you're not a pilot and you don't watch airliners land all the time,
you may not know what it normally looks like.
Now, if you want to see someone that's actually scared while they're flying
check out this video I made with this flight attendant who is scared of heights
and I took her in a very small plane with flight attendant Stella.
It's right here. Check that out.
And if you want to see Air traffic control and pilots
actually get into arguments in real life,
you're going to want to check out this video up here.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Until then,
Keep the blue side up.