Question Why do pilots hold each other's hands to throttle up for takeoff?

[statisticsnerd]

I was in Vegas a couple of years ago and took a little plane with about 15 seats to the Grand Canyon. The two male pilots held each other's hand when they pushed up the throttle to take off. Why do they do that? Can't the main pilot just do it himself?

 

[indonesianorbinaut]

the first thing on my head is when i read the "held each other's hand" is a couple held each other's hand romantically :lol:
:j/k: my answer: i don't know, sorry

 

[george7378]

Whenever I've been in a little plane (such as a Twin Otter), they haven't done that! Mind you, the throttle's on the roof in the Twotter. Also, if when I took flying lessons my instructor did that, I would be a little suspicious.

 

[Urwumpe]

I was in Vegas a couple of years ago and took a little plane with about 15 seats to the Grand Canyon. The two male pilots held each other's hand when they pushed up the throttle to take off. Why do they do that? Can't the main pilot just do it himself?

Safety. You NEVER take your hand from the throttle during lift-off and this applies to both pilots.

 

[N_Molson]

I saw an episode of Mayday : Air crash investigation that explained that.

The reason is to prevent one of the two pilots from throttling back on takeoff, should the plane bump on something, the pilot have a health problem etc...

 

[toddhisattva]

I was in Vegas a couple of years ago and took a little plane with about 15 seats to the Grand Canyon. The two male pilots held each other's hand when they pushed up the throttle to take off. Why do they do that? Can't the main pilot just do it himself?

This is just a guess, but that way both pilots have tactile memory of the throttle setting.

 

[garyw]

The dual throttle up is not done by every airline and is not recommended on every aircraft, especially boeings where the throttles move themselves in response to things like TOGA.

N. Molson is correct is what he says though.

Safety. You NEVER take your hand from the throttle during lift-off and this applies to both pilots.

Not quite true. The normal SOP for most airlines during take off is as follows:

1. Throttle up to 60% N1, wait for the engines to stabilise
2. TOGA. PF or both hold the throttles at TOGA power
3. PNF calls '80 kts'. PF calls 'Cross checked' - this confirms that both Speed indicators are matched.
4. PNF calls 'V1' - PF removes hand from throttles.
5. PNF calls 'Rotate' and PF lifts off
6. PNF calls 'postitive rate' (Aircraft is climbing)
7. PF calls for the gear up.

 

[FADEC]

garyw and N_Molson are correct.

It's neither a strict requirement, nor widely common that both pilots do hold the thrust levers. It happens, but depends on the type of aircraft and specific airline procedures.

On Boeing aircraft the pilot not flying often holds the thrust levers once thrust is set, so the pilot flying can use both hands to pull the yoke at Vr (rotation) and takes over the throttles again when the pilot not flying retracts the landing gear. But it's also not uncommon that the pilot flying does continue to hold the thrust levers once he has set thrust and uses both hands at Vr while the thrust levers remain untouched until pulled back to climb thrust (when done manually).

On Airbus one does not need both hands at Vr because there is no yoke. So the pilot flying mostly holds the thrust levers while taking of the airplane by using the side stick with his second hand. Airbus is the most pleasant passenger jet in this context anyway (sidestick instead of a yoke plus fly-by-wire & flight augmentation).

---------- Post added at 05:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:31 PM ----------

EDIT: forgot to mention that the most important reason to hold the levers during take of roll is to be able to reject a take off roll as quick as possible when required. When reaching V1 you have only one more second left (the other end of the runway gets closer...) to decide whether to continue or reject.

 

[TMac3000]

I was in Vegas a couple of years ago and took a little plane with about 15 seats to the Grand Canyon. The two male pilots held each other's hand when they pushed up the throttle to take off. Why do they do that? Can't the main pilot just do it himself?

Because taking off in a big jet is romantic

 

[Ghostrider]

Because taking off in a big jet is romantic

They're in luuuuurrrrve!:lol:

 

[wehaveaproblem]

Not that I'm really qualified to comment here. But I believe it is also standard practice for airlines to have the co-pilot handle take-off and landing, leaving the senior pilot to monitor instruments and so forth. Which means in the case of the first FADEC video, it would also be the senior pilot controlling the throttle.

Perhaps the OP's co-pilot was a rookie, being assisted by the senior pilot?

 

[Linguofreak]

On Boeing aircraft the pilot not flying often holds the thrust levers once thrust is set, so the pilot flying can use both hands to pull the yoke at Vr (rotation) and takes over the throttles again when the pilot not flying retracts the landing gear. But it's also not uncommon that the pilot flying does continue to hold the thrust levers once he has set thrust and uses both hands at Vr while the thrust levers remain untouched until pulled back to climb thrust (when done manually).

I've also heard, in certain situations where precise throttle control is critical (not so much takeoff), of the PF handling the stick/yoke and the PNF handling the throttle so as to divide up the workload and let each concentrate on one thing.

ISTR that this is done with the [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Mars"]Martin Mars[/ame] when picking up water during firefighting operations.

 

[FADEC]

Not that I'm really qualified to comment here. But I believe it is also standard practice for airlines to have the co-pilot handle take-off and landing, leaving the senior pilot to monitor instruments and so forth. Which means in the case of the first FADEC video, it would also be the senior pilot controlling the throttle.

Perhaps the OP's co-pilot was a rookie, being assisted by the senior pilot?

Depends on the airline mostly. But actually pilots alternate since they have to log hours, especially pilots who have a "frozen" license (rookies) until they have enough hours and take offs and landings in their log to become a "full" airline pilot. One pilot usually does perform the outbound flight as a pilot flying, the other pilot does perform the return flight as a pilot flying. Or they just alternate their flights if it's not a round trip but multiple flights across Europe for example (short haul, quite a busy job). But either way they usually distribute it so that nobody goes short related to their logbooks.

The areas of responsibility in the cockpit are quite strictly related to the pilot flying / pilot not flying and the corresponding procedures by the way. There is not much to choose. It's clearly assigned to the pilot flying and pilot not flying, depending on aircraft procedures and airline procedures.

 

[sputnik]

To guard against the very very smal, but non-zero probability, that the adjustable seat mechanism of one pilot or the other fails, and they slide backwards. This has caused several fatal takeoff mishaps over the decades; with both pilots holding both yoke and throttles, it no longer has the potential to be a fatal accident.

 

[FADEC]

I've also heard, in certain situations where precise throttle control is critical (not so much takeoff), of the PF handling the stick/yoke and the PNF handling the throttle so as to divide up the workload and let each concentrate on one thing.

ISTR that this is done with the Martin Mars when picking up water during firefighting operations.

Yes. Especially on older aircraft in terms of workload, like the 747-100 to 300, or the 727, DC-10 or Lockheed TriStar. The thrust sometimes is controlled by the flight engineer during take off and climb on these aircraft. It also depends on the installed engine models. Some still-flying 727s are equipped with new outboard engines while the center engine is different (old). So you have to set the thrust levers to different positions instead all three levers to one position. This fine tuning is done by the flight engineer mostly.

 

[Andy44]

To guard against the very very smal, but non-zero probability, that the adjustable seat mechanism of one pilot or the other fails, and they slide backwards. This has caused several fatal takeoff mishaps over the decades; with both pilots holding both yoke and throttles, it no longer has the potential to be a fatal accident.

This happened to me once flying solo in a Cessna 150. While climbing out the seat unlocked and slid backwards, pulling me and the yoke and throttle back with me. A little scary but I pushed both forward instinctively and once I got to altitude I readjusted the seat.

 

[Hielor]

This happened to me once flying solo in a Cessna 150. While climbing out the seat unlocked and slid backwards, pulling me and the yoke and throttle back with me. A little scary but I pushed both forward instinctively and once I got to altitude I readjusted the seat.

Only time I've had something like this happen was fortunately on the ground--was in a 172, and the seat actually slid backwards all the way off the track while I was getting in. Would've been disastrous in the air since I wouldn't have been able to reach the controls, and I had a passenger with me instead of an instructor.

We were at a remote airport, but fortunately I was able to figure out what the problem was (after a call back to the the FBO) and screw it back in using the control wheel lock as a flathead screwdriver... :facepalm:

 

[SpaceNut]

N_Molson has it right, it's to prevent accidental throttle back during tack off. I was just watching a documentary about a plane (who's wing fell off), and the specifically talked about the take off procedure and talked about how the co-pilot was required to put his hand on the pilots hand (not to control the throttle), but to prevent accidental de-throttling, especially in their situation (a water take off), which is by nature particularly bumpy.

 

[Andy44]

Only time I've had something like this happen was fortunately on the ground--was in a 172, and the seat actually slid backwards all the way off the track while I was getting in. Would've been disastrous in the air since I wouldn't have been able to reach the controls, and I had a passenger with me instead of an instructor.

We were at a remote airport, but fortunately I was able to figure out what the problem was (after a call back to the the FBO) and screw it back in using the control wheel lock as a flathead screwdriver... :facepalm:

LOL at least my seat didn't come off the rails! It was a little awkward flying the plane without being able to reach the rudder pedals, though. Like sitting in the back seat of a Volkswagon with no front seat, can't see over the dashboard...

 

[rodion_herrera]

Isn't checking seat lock part of the checklist?

-RODION