Where does the term 'Flying the line' come from?

[Pilot Pete]

Anyone know the origins of the term 'flying the line'?

PP

[CrashDive]

Perhaps it's because when an airline contracts to fly their aircraft they traditionally plot where / what an aircraft should/could be doing at any particular time on any particular day by taking a piece of paper ( latterly, this is done electronically ) and writing each aircraft tail number across the top of the page - with time/date running down the page ( or sometimes it's vice versa, e.g. aircraft down the LHS, and time running across the page from left to right ).

From there each aircraft is assigned to various routes (sectors), which then provides LINES of flying which need to be covered by the crews.

Once the lines of flying have been determined and contracted, the crews are assigned (by the rostering department) to the sectors which make up those lines.

Of course it's very much dependant upon the depth / breadth and nature of an airlines lines of flying, as to the variety of destinations (sectors) which the crews get to fly.

E.g. Theoretically a crew permanently assigned to a scheduled line of flying could expect themselves to be repeating that line ad infinitum - which is where the expression 'bid line' comes into play; this is where a line of flying is either atractive (or not) to crew members (e.g. crap/good destinations, poor/great allowances, jet-lag/no jet-lag, etc ), and the crews are allowed to bid (usually based on seniority) for particular lines of flying - which is how come places like BA/AA/etc have a 'bid line' rostering systems.

What it all adds up to is (perhaps) the expression 'to fly the line' or "I'm a line pilot" - i.e. one employed upon a regular line of flying (be that what it may).

Ps. Unlike 'line pilots', management pilots are typically not assigned lines of flying because doing so has an impact on their flexibility in respect of their other necessary office duties - to say nothing not helping to reduce their golf handicap ! <img src="wink.gif" border="0">

[Unwell_Raptor]

Airline followed shipping line. (Hence airliner and ocean liner).

Where shipping line came from, I dunno.

There could be confusion sown by the idea of a line of work (e.g. Bidline) but the shipping line was there first.

I hav thought about rail line, but I think that is no help, because the shipping lines were companies, but the rail lines were geographical.

[ 25 February 2002: Message edited by: Unwell_Raptor ]</p>

[no sponsor]

The old nautical term was "Ship of the Line" back in the very old days of the Royal Navy - HMS Victory era. This term came from the battle strategy for the old square riggers, which would line up astern of each other and sail, in a line, past the enemy, where they would aim and fire their guns when they were abeam the opposition. The old guns could not be turned and aimed as they are today, so sailing in a line meant the enemy had to bear a considerable onslaught for an extended period of time, and the aim was generally effective. All other navies, including the french adopted a similar strategy, so most military ships became known as "ships of the line".

I've no idea if this is connected to the airline term.

[Semaphore Sam]

Before I'd have thought it was rail-derived, but the above has convinced me it's probably nautical. How about 'deadhead'?

[aspinwing]

“Deadhead” also has a nautical connotation. A deadhead is a log which has been in the water for an extended period and soaked up enough water to almost submerge it. Typically they ‘float’ vertically with the buttend down. ;-}

In areas with intense logging operations, specifically the west coast of Canada, they are a pain in the butt - pun intended. For lighter ships - minehunters, etc. the risk of damage should be obvious. For larger warships, frigates, etc., the bow wave often pushes the deadhead down and it comes up under the ship just in time to wipe out the sonar dome or knock off some of the cathodic protection slugs.

[Pegasus77]

Interesting theory, aspinwing, but how does deadhead-wood connect with a deadhead-crew?

[aspinwing]

Non or lost revenue: a logging company will have invested a bunch of money in harvesting the timber - think heli-logging - and then in booming the timber and towing it miles to the saw mill. If some logs escape the boom or the boom is broken up in rough water, they are out cash which they cannot recover; although there are people that make a buck scavenging deadheads and selling them to mills.

Presumably ‘deadhead’ crews are taking up what could be revenue space. It is a stretch, I know, but the best I could do on the spur of the moment.

As an aside: when it comes to fighting wildfires, the logging companies get real excited if the fire approaches cut timber. They don’t have as much invested in the standing timber which can regrow.

[Pilot Pete]

All very interesting guys, any other terms and the theories on their origin?

PP

[IMMELMAN]

Some quite good ideas there - so it's now off to 'landlubber', which leads us to 'lubber-line' which, on earlier compasses was the line you rotated to the HDG RQD, so you could then keep the needle aligned to. It was usually considered a safe bet to fly in 'a line' from A to B, using your 'lubber' but, one thing and another led to that not always working, especially when we flew long distances over deserts, sitting outside ( tried that lately? :) )so, particularly useful to locate fuel ' dumps', we got in some practice for digging canals and trenches ready for the Great( not that great, actually <img src="eek.gif" border="0"> )War by persuading local farmers to plough straight trenches from, say, Wadi-el-Jawant to Port-an-Lemon - and we just flew along them, nice and easy <img src="eek.gif" border="0"> Along came Imperial, then British Airways , BOAC and the rest and they numbered their Routes as 'Lines' - I forget them now but I think, as example, No 3 Line may have been to ME OR SA. Flying Boats were introduced because the die on the water kept dissipating and crews ended up in the wrong places, also the 'underwater' trenches soon filled in - no problem with fuel s.tops - just land - however, it may take the company launch a few days to reach you with the jerry-cans and the weight of allowances in old pence was prohibitive. Astro sort of helped until it came out of the ATPL syllabus and they then got rid of Navigators and with no Wireless/Radio Officer, inertial and other things not yet invented - people started to enjoy surprise sojourns in unexpected places. Then, along came Bombers - following the commercially dug lines, dropping their eggs and following them back home, with the other side doing exactly the same. So, the 'lines' were all dug up, put on the backs of camels, not designed by Tommy, or maybe they were - carted off to the local soukh and bartered, or sold - some ending up as early European motorways. The rest will be continued in the book, followed by the film - later! :) . .Lines then were adopted for rosters, washing, dancing and all sorts after that.Anyone know 'toe the line' <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

[Pilot Pete]

Immelman

Very interesting although I must admit I like Crashdive's explaination of how the airlines adopted the term. The nautical links seem plausible too, especially the history of the shipping 'line'.

As for 'toe the line', I'm pretty sure that comes from the military parade ground where each of the ranks would 'fall in'(where did that come from!!) and the front rank would 'right dress' where each soldier would turn his head to the right and shuffle back or forward as required to make the rank perfectly straight. The other ranks would then shuffle in a similar fashion to line up their rank and also with the soldier(s) to their front. So toeing the line needed co-ordination and teamwork to achieve the end result and just one individual not following the 'party line'(!telephone?) would stand out like a sore thumb.

PP

[Pegasus77]

Sounds right to me, aspinwin, although from now on I will feel pretty guilty when deadheading <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" /> . .. .P77