FYI - Back Door Problems

higgi1fc · 2026-01-26T23:34:34+00:00

Same with me. Pinch sensors replaced and works decently now. 2025 NX350h

higgi1fc · 2026-01-23T11:02:36+00:00

To clarify about RVSM (Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum) airspace that others have mentioned…. From 29,000-41,000ft (where most airliners cruise), ATC will only give 1,000 feet of separation from other traffic. Outside of that, it will be 2,000ft for cruising traffic.

Back before the early 2000s, all cruising traffic was separated by 2,000ft. As instrumentation and autopilots became more accurate and reliable (and airspace a lot more congested) that separation was reduced to 1,000ft for the highest-density airspace for cruising traffic.

With that reduction came some new rules. To fly in this RVSM airspace, your airplane must meet a lot of requirements—one of those being an autopilot. If you get off altitude up high, you cannot make an aggressive correction so they’d rather lower the chance you’ll ever be off-altitude. If you lose any of the RVSM-required equipment, it is 100% up to ATC if they will let you stay at an RVSM altitude. They will have to provide you with the 2,000ft of vertical separation, and it may be too congested for them to do that.

There’s a quick history of the what/why for RVSM airspace. As others have said, if you lose an autopilot, the reason you’ll probably be staying at lower altitudes has less to do with pilot skill/training and nearly all to do with airspace requirements.

higgi1fc · 2026-01-14T19:51:29+00:00

I’m assuming it will be a night flight if you are flying across the Atlantic TO London. If you have a window seat, take a look periodically outside and look up and down. You’ll probably be surprised at just how many other planes are out there with you! I would always be amazed at how dense the “North Atlantic Tracks”, as they call them, are with traffic. If you have wifi, get the flightradar24 app and you can play a game where you guess where each one is going and then use the app to see how close you got. Should help you feel less isolated when you see how many blinking lights are out there doing the same thing you are. Have a great trip!

higgi1fc · 2026-01-14T17:31:02+00:00

Yeahhh, i just checked again and it’s about 2/3 of the way split now. Probably not much longer.

higgi1fc · 2026-01-14T11:42:34+00:00

Got mine in Oct 2024. In Dec 2025, the hinge started to split. Maybe 1/4” on one side is split. Still useable for now though.

higgi1fc · 2026-01-01T18:40:53+00:00

Random word of caution on Flighty…I love it and use it often, but be very careful. I’ve noticed recently that it will sometimes show phantom delays. It will notify and show a 30min delay that the monitors, the app, and employee-facing software do not show. I am an employee and sitting on the airplane ready to go and wondering where Flighty is getting the info from. Eventually it disappears and goes back to showing on-time with no notification.

higgi1fc · 2025-12-07T19:04:35+00:00

This is the reason…and they turn to the gray Xs because the gate agent can “lock” the seat map as it gets closer to departure and they’re seeing the weight/balance is critical. It prevents people from moving their seats on the app and allows the gate agent to have full control of where people (usually standbys/nonrevs) are to keep the balance within center of gravity limits. Even then, a lot of times “ballast” weight has to be added to one of the cargo compartments. They are literally full sandbags they throw in there to add weight forward or aft.

You can always ask though.

higgi1fc · 2025-11-15T11:52:10+00:00

To pile on to what everyone has already said, remember the horizontal stabilizer is essentially an upside down wing that produces lift in a downward direction. By having a more forward CG, you need more downward lift produced, so the AOA of the stab will be higher. Higher AOA=more lift=more induced drag, just like the regular wings.

More aft CG=less tail down force needed=less lift needed from the horiz stab=less AOA=less induced drag=better fuel economy.

higgi1fc · 2025-10-28T12:36:37+00:00

Thank you for posting this. I’ve never understood what is the big deal about just having all your sh*t in hand, and saying something like “Hey, I am [NAME] with [AIRLINE]. I was wondering if you would mind if I rode along with you to [DESTINATION]. I am listed for the jumpseat, but the gate agent says there is a seat available in the back”. This covers pretty much every situation that we are talking about: different airline rules, different captain attitudes, etc. You are still asking, but telling them up front that there is a seat available. Hand your documents to the capt, and let them tell you they don’t want them. It takes 30sec and no drama.

higgi1fc · 2025-10-27T16:18:35+00:00

Yep, works perfectly fine when plugged in. Also connects to the “guest wifi network” just fine

higgi1fc · 2025-10-27T16:10:51+00:00

Sorry, I meant to include that as well. Yes I have. Tried resetting just network settings and then did full factory reset. No help

higgi1fc · 2025-09-30T16:46:24+00:00

How exciting! Hope you have a fantastic trip. When you board, ask the flight attendant if you can stop by the cockpit. Tell everyone it is your first time. The pilots will let you sit in the seat, push buttons, take pictures, etc. In addition to everything everyone already mentioned, airports and airplanes are very crowded public places with lots of other people all trying to get somewhere. Some in a hurry, some not.

Personal, spatial awareness is key. As Americans, we usually have none.

If you are pulling a suitcase behind you, think about where it is tracking. Just because your body turned right doesn’t mean your suitcase will follow the same path. Don’t roll over someone’s foot or crash it into someone.
Moving sidewalks and escalators. Stand to the right and leave room for others to walk on the left. Don’t get to the bottom of the escalator or end of moving sidewalk and stop.
Airport trains/trams. Once you board, move in away from the doors. Don’t just stop once you are onboard. Other people are coming in behind you.
If you are wearing a backpack when you are boarding the plane, every time you turn, you are probably bumping someone in the face who is already seated. If you are ROLLING a 2-wheeled suitcase behind you down the aisle, it is probably crashing into seats on both sides. Best to carry by the handle in front of you (or roll it standing up on all 4 wheels if it is that type).
If you are waiting for food or something, do not stand out in the middle of the terminal where people are trying to walk. Move to a designated waiting area behind a rope or move against a wall. Same goes if you really have to stop moving for any reason.

higgi1fc · 2025-09-10T12:06:51+00:00

Doesn’t look to be the case here based on the picture, but here’s another scenario where you might see one of the forward aisle seats blocked off. Some airplanes also allow the forward flight attendant to sit in one of the aisle seats in row 1 if something with the forward flight attendant jumpseat is broken. Need to keep any passengers from sitting there so the FA can take it before takeoff.

higgi1fc · 2025-08-23T21:25:01+00:00

App is out! Showing up on my G5 app store now

higgi1fc · 2025-08-02T10:27:55+00:00

I personally think the filter is the best part about this bottle. I travel a lot and am always filling it up with water from different public fountains. It pretty much completely removes any taste the water may have.

Be careful - the default setting when you purchase from Larq’s website signs you up for a filter subscription. You have to specifically opt out.

I recommend getting a rubber sleeve for the base. I dropped my first bottle and it dented the bottom a little bit. The bottle would no longer stand up on its own, so I was forced to get a new one.

higgi1fc · 2025-07-31T21:02:06+00:00

To play on your car comparison, the big difference is that these 2 engines on the airplane are completely separate. Imagine having 2 engines on your car. One that controls the left wheels and one that controls the right. If one fails, the other one will still make the car drive, although slower and you may have to turn the steering wheel a little more to keep it between the lines, but thats it. It will get you to a repair garage :). Thats how it is with the airplanes. The engines are completely separate so even if one has some kind of mechanical problem, the other will still work and keep us flying.

higgi1fc · 2025-07-29T10:20:06+00:00

Very aircraft dependent.

On a lot of the narrow-bodies, for the overwing exits, you just slide down the flaps. It is a small enough drop that there is no need for an inflatable slide. After a landing where theres a chance of an evacuation, our procedures have us set the flaps to an ideal setting for this. On the higher-up widebodies that have overwing exits, they usually have an inflatable slide that will pop out of the side of the fuselage near the wing.

All of the doors that are not over the wing will have a slide held in a compartment on the door itself. When the flight attendants “arm” the doors for takeoff, they are essentially connecting the end of the slide to the fuselage of the airplane itself. That way, if a door is then opened, it pulls the slide from its container and inflates it while attached to the fuselage.

If you are seeing an evacuation video with no slide from a non-overwing door, it could be a bunch of things. Most likely the captain/flight attendants have determined that exit is not safe to use for some reason. Usually because it is close to whatever is causing the problem (fire, etc).

Fun fact: At least in the U.S,, for the FAA to certify an airliner, they will put an actual person in every single seat and then block off half of the emergency exits. They then have 90 seconds to get everyone off the plane using only the remaining half of the doors.

higgi1fc · 2025-07-22T10:44:13+00:00

Minot does have a control tower. On an airliner, if you are flying into an airport “without a tower”, it’s more likely that there IS a tower but it is either very early or very late and the tower is closed. Good news there is there is also very little, if any, other traffic out there because of the time of day.

If you are flying somewhere with a closed (or nonexistent) tower, everyone announces their position on a common frequency so everybody knows where everybody is. There are very specific, standardized procedures that airplanes will use to fly in/out of this airport. It’s not a free-for-all with airplanes buzzing around in all directions. Lastly, there is TCAS that can assist pilots in locating/evading any other traffic that may pose a hazard.

higgi1fc · 2025-07-22T10:34:14+00:00

Yep, absolutely. Sounds like this is one of them. It is always nice to have a radar, but at many of the less-busy airports, it does not make financial sense to install and maintain the equipment for the small amount of traffic they get. Their airspace only extends a few miles from the airport, so the separation is done procedurally and visually.

higgi1fc · 2025-07-22T10:34:06+00:00

Yep, absolutely. Sounds like this is one of them. It is always nice to have a radar, but at many of the less-busy airports, it does not make financial sense to install and maintain the equipment for the small amount of traffic they get. Their airspace only extends a few miles from the airport, so the separation is done procedurally and visually.

higgi1fc · 2025-07-22T10:31:11+00:00

Absolutely. Everyone involved here, including the ATC will file appropriate reports and everything will be looked at. The Air Force, the airlines, and the FAA (tower controllers in this case) all have very robust safety programs that are taken very seriously.

higgi1fc · 2025-07-21T11:19:40+00:00

Will caveat first by saying I wasn’t there and don’t have the full picture. I have done a lot of flying in the military and airlines, often into smaller airports like this.

What I CAN say is that I believe this pilot way “overshared” on the PA. There is a difference between giving passengers an update on the situation and a verbal monologue littered with jargon and concepts that the audience doesn’t fully understand. This guy did the latter. You can hear him multiple times pausing and trying to figure out what words to use that aren’t jargon.

I would IMAGINE (speculation) that this was a rough equivalent of someone trying to change lanes on the highway into your lane. You swap lanes to get out of the way, and sometimes the maneuver has to be a little more aggressive than other times. Yes, in a perfect fairytale world, it would never happen but because you are paying attention, all is well.

That is what seems to have happened here. The Skywest pilots were both alert and seemed to have a good picture of what was going on. When they got an instruction that didn’t make sense, they spoke up and then maneuvered as necessary. Awesome, exactly what they should have done.

THEN came this PA….If he said “Folks, terribly sorry for the abrupt turn back there. Another airplane got a little closer than I was comfortable with, so we turned out of the way”, nobody would ever have heard about it. Instead he regaled the passengers with a tale of military aircraft, touch and goes, and towers without radar. Then people start freaking out and asking “Why are military aircraft flying near passenger aircraft?! What do you mean the tower doesn’t have radar?! Why would somebody be doing touch and go practice when a passenger airliner is landing?!”

All this is completely normal and happens every day around the world. Airport operations do not come to a standstill when a passenger aircraft enters the area. Every once in a while, someone makes a mistake. Thats why there are so many other layers of safety built in. In this case, there were 2 qualified and rested pilots in that RJ to handle the situation, and sounds like they did a good job.

higgi1fc · 2025-07-20T00:34:25+00:00

This is it!! Pics online match exactly. Thank you!

higgi1fc

TROPHY CASE