3 ms·

> This alarming-sounding situation That's not what's alarming to me. What's alarming is that the plane could possibly be in a position to be continuously powe

> This alarming-sounding situation That's not what's alarming to me. What's alarming is that the plane could possibly be in a position to be continuously powered on for 51 days in the first place.

stavros 2y ago
When a minute of downtime costs thousands, why wouldn't you expect planes to be in constant utilization?
- fallingknife 2y ago
  The number of flights varies a lot by time of day, so there is nothing close to constant utilization.
  - Filligree 2y ago
    There's not much reason to turn them off outside of maintenance. When they're parked, they're connected to grid power.
    - n_ary 2y ago
      A parked Aircraft is not kept powered when there are no maintenance or other routine(cleaning/checks/certification/preparation/restocking etc.) It is very surprising that how a lot of comments here claim the contrary. Even when parked for next flight, until resupply and cargo routines are declared, it is also not powered.
    - thecosmicfrog 2y ago
      Airliners are regularly and routinely shut down. "Cold and dark" is a common startup procedure for the first flight of the day.
  - CactusOnFire 2y ago
    I've flown with airlines before where there was a cascading delay due to a "plane deficit" at the terminal (not the technical term, that's my own). Not to say it's always uptime, but I imagine there are instances of constant uptime.
    - fallingknife 2y ago
      They can't just change things up on a dime like that. Even if it's 3 AM and most planes are sitting on the ground they can't just be used for your flight like that because they are all scheduled to take off in the morning rush a few hours later.
- akira2501 2y ago
  > why wouldn't you expect planes to be in constant utilization? They require weekly maintenance which takes them out of service for at least 12 hours. What we may of as 'constant utilization' is quite different in a regulated fleet environment like airlines.
  - stavros 2y ago
    "Constant utilization" means "they aren't sitting idle", not "they aren't undergoing necessary maintenance ever".
  - hinkley 2y ago
    maintenance would happen with the aircraft in 'wheels on ground' mode but that may not mean all systems are turned off. I expect it's like a bug in the SMC on a computer. To really turn it off you have to do some magic.

> This alarming-sounding situation That's not what's alarming to me. What's alarming is that the plane could possibly be in a position to be continuously powered on for 51 days in the first place.

stavros 2y ago

When a minute of downtime costs thousands, why wouldn't you expect planes to be in constant utilization?

fallingknife 2y ago
The number of flights varies a lot by time of day, so there is nothing close to constant utilization.
- Filligree 2y ago
  There's not much reason to turn them off outside of maintenance. When they're parked, they're connected to grid power.
  - n_ary 2y ago
    A parked Aircraft is not kept powered when there are no maintenance or other routine(cleaning/checks/certification/preparation/restocking etc.) It is very surprising that how a lot of comments here claim the contrary. Even when parked for next flight, until resupply and cargo routines are declared, it is also not powered.
  - thecosmicfrog 2y ago
    Airliners are regularly and routinely shut down. "Cold and dark" is a common startup procedure for the first flight of the day.
- CactusOnFire 2y ago
  I've flown with airlines before where there was a cascading delay due to a "plane deficit" at the terminal (not the technical term, that's my own). Not to say it's always uptime, but I imagine there are instances of constant uptime.
  - fallingknife 2y ago
    They can't just change things up on a dime like that. Even if it's 3 AM and most planes are sitting on the ground they can't just be used for your flight like that because they are all scheduled to take off in the morning rush a few hours later.
akira2501 2y ago
> why wouldn't you expect planes to be in constant utilization? They require weekly maintenance which takes them out of service for at least 12 hours. What we may of as 'constant utilization' is quite different in a regulated fleet environment like airlines.
- stavros 2y ago
  "Constant utilization" means "they aren't sitting idle", not "they aren't undergoing necessary maintenance ever".
- hinkley 2y ago
  maintenance would happen with the aircraft in 'wheels on ground' mode but that may not mean all systems are turned off. I expect it's like a bug in the SMC on a computer. To really turn it off you have to do some magic.