Do You Wave?

[Mudman]

When airliners pass close to each other are you able to see well enough to wave to each other? If so, do you wave?
Just curious

[wiggy]

Well, not waving because it was dark but I kid you not I once got into a very slow exchange of morse using torches on the north Atlantic tracks one night a few years back ..... ( well it was 3 AM and we were very bored) ..

[500 above]

Christ, I hope you reported the GNE!

[neroliie]

Once when I was chilling out at Schiphol a little while back the pilots in a plane waved during pushback, so I waved back and took their picture. Does that count? :p

[pasir]

... An elderly relative was telling of the times when intrepid aviators flew
machines of canvass and wire that as an aircraft circled a few
hundred feet above he would wave to the pilot - who waved back -
"And that was his fatal mistake" quipped a listener to much merriment.

...

[Lightning Mate]

We always used to wave, and they would wave back.

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu82/Lightning_29/Bear_zps20174614.jpg

[300-600]

What kind of wave was it? Not you Tony C by any chance?

At night when passing in opposite directions on the same airway some will flash lights and some will respond.

[sanjaime]

When using the Gatwick Airport Air Bridge on several occasions we have seen pilots wave back to PAX (usually children) who have stopped to watch aircraft which are taxiing and about to pass underneath the bridge.

http://simflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Airbridge.jpg

:D
Our grandson is a keen aircraft spotter and loves to go over the giant bridge.
:=
We are not so keen due to the distance to walk to the North Terminal, especially last time when the escalators were out of action !

[Nicholas49]

The OP's question is similar to one I've been meaning to ask for ages: do you also sometimes recognise your colleagues' voices over ATC channels?

I suppose it would apply particularly to Ground/Tower channels when you've spoken to/seen each other in the crew room but then gone out to different aircraft to operate different flights? Or are the messages transmitted just too short to tell?

[Doug E Style]

Yes, Nicholas 49, if I recognise a colleague's voice and the frequency is not busy I will say hello. My old airline had several flights a week to two different cities in Africa and as the flights were in roughly the same airspace for a period of about 30 minutes we would often have a quick exchange of greetings.

[Evening Star]

Full praise to the BA pilot at DME who waved back at Miss ES when, as a shy toddler a few years ago, she decided while we were waiting in the departure lounge to wave at the pilots. In the unlikely event he is reading, I thank him as the waving back made her day.:ok:

[The SSK]

The only time I ever got within waving distance, it was at night
... and we were taking evasive action

[wiggy]

500..
Christ, I hope you reported the GNE!

Err no, why the shock horror? .....SLOP ring any bells? ( FWIW he was on the track, we were offset 1 R and at our cleared and filed level 1000 below - and you can see a torch from quite a distance at night..)

[500 above]

Jeez, Wiggy... Chill out! Tongue in cheek. Who's panicking? Yes SLOP should indeed ring a bell, it's SOP.

[wiggy]

Ah, Got it ( I was just imagining the Daily Mail headline "pilot in the dark with torch, Air Traffic plunged into chaos" :ok:)

[500 above]

Haha! I can just see it now... One of our colonial cousins asking for a ride report with a maglite!

[goldox]

Ah, Got it ( I was just imagining the Daily Mail headline "pilot in the dark with torch, Air Traffic plunged into chaos"

Or even...

"Pilot dazzled by laser lout at 30,000ft!"