I think a lot of people might be wondering what happened when the plane come to a stop at the gate and then off again they go to other destination just like that. Well a lot of things happen during this few minutes of time and I shall share it to you about it. Just think like the reporter did on the CNN channel if you watched one.
Let see the turnaround time given under normal circumstances for a Boeing 737 is 30 minutes to 45 minutes. I mean the more time given the better but the more time the plane sit on the ground the more money it will lose. I shall introduce to you the people behind the scene.
1. Pilot
As you all know pilot normally will just sit around and do nothing until the very last minutes of it. Just kidding. Basically, as a pilot there are a lot of thing need to be done. Not limiting from preparing the flight for the departure (both paper and computer), ground check and checking any new (defect) procedures. A good pilot only need 20 minutes to prepare the cockpit. So the balance time he will use to mingle around with the cabin crew or ground staff. Kidding again. An average pilot will need all the time he can get to prepare the cockpit. My record was 7 minutes as I know what things need to be done already. (Sometimes also we act like we busy so the passenger would thought we are actually busy). Shh... Don't tell anyone. =D
2. Cabin Crew
They will be making sure that all the passenger from the previous flight had gone out from the aircraft. Right after that, they will ensure the newspaper are been put together for the next passengers. They will also again check the water level for the lavatory and the safety items in correct position. And of course they help serve us our meal in the mean time. Very nice of them to do so.
3. Engineers
They will come and check if the aircraft have any defect. Not the old one but the new defect.. We all flying a rather old aircraft. so we can aspect to fly with some problems along the way. Most of the time they can fix it and if they can't they will differ it to the other log book. With this we will had to fly with some minor adjustment. Don't worry. The aircraft is totally safe. Otherwise we won't fly it in the first place.
4. Mechanics
Their job is to assist the engineer. They will do the refueling monitoring and also assist on the tow truck. The new guys (trainees) sometimes come and help at the bay to learn on the procedures.
5. Catering
The minutes the last passenger came out, they will open the other door and start loading the aircraft with some new meal and stuff for the next flight. They only got like 7 minutes to have it done so they really do it fast. The cart are ready. All they need to do is just drag it in and replace the old one with the new one. Both the front and also the back galley. The leading steward/dess will then sign the paper accepting the meal.
6. Ground Staff
Their job is to try to get the plane go on time. Sometime we are not ready to accept the passenger due to small stuff like catering and cleaning. The good thing is we have what we call as precision boarding. 20 minutes before departure we will start the boarding no matter what. Otherwise we need to write in the reason and sometime we had enforced it to make sure we go by the rules.
7. Cleaner
Straight forward. They clean the cabin. Usually we had like 5 of them. Got one day I saw like 15 of them cleaning the aircraft. I guess they really free and got no other aircraft to clean. That is why they all come and partying at our aircraft.. They do everything fast.. Vacuum, sweeping, wiping and everything fast. In just few minutes the aircraft is clean and ready to go again. Fuyoo.
8. Cargo Loader
They load the cargo.
9. Security
Keep and eye on everyone. Scared something got stolen or went missing from the passengers. Who know right? So this guy job is to monitor people.
10. Load-sheeter
This guy job is to calculate the load distribution all over the aircraft. We don't want it to be heavy at one side. It is not good. You might heard about aircraft failing to take off just because they did the arrangement of the cargo wrongly. Well this guy will balance the weight so we will eventually get airborne in the air without any problem due to the weight.
11. Tug Driver
Lastly, we are ready to go. Off we go being push back by the tug driver. We don't have side mirror. That is why we need them to push us back. Just kidding. The aircraft can only move forward because we only have forward thrust. Too complicated to explain. But the thing is, we need this guy to push us back so we can go forward and eventually fly away to our destination.....
If your flight is delayed, be patient. Everyone is doing their very best to make you arrive at your destination safely. Remember, there is a reason for every delay and if they need to change the aircraft, the whole cycle need to be repeat again.