To think pilots shouldn't be faffing around with Instagram photos while flying?

[TheCamelFromSpain]

Just browsing on Instagram and there seems to be a huge trend and following for pilots who take photos of all sorts at times when I would have thought they should be focussing on flying the plane!

I get that it's an interesting job and can see why so many people follow them. But in many of the photos you can see that it's not a static Go Pro or whatever, it's clearly a selfie with the hand holding the camera. At however many thousand feet!

AIBU to not understand why this is considered ok?

Perhaps because there is generally two, and sometimes even 3 pilots in the cockpit, but not only that, the plane can do a good job of kind of flying itself so it is generally ok for one or all of them to take their hands off the controls at the same time.

And if its a wee plane with one pilot? Well, it could still be ok.

I think they use auto pilot a lot of the time so don't have hands on the controls all the time? Not sure though. Whenever I've read about crashes they say they use autopilot and it's only all hands on deck if there's turbulence or a problem etc.

The co pilot is probably in control while they do that.

I thought planes were on autopilot for most of the duration of a flight. So while not ideal, not as gobsmacking as it otherwise would be.

take off and landing maybe yabu but up in the air cruising along? Planes pretty much fly themselves

I'm sure of any alarms sound they would put the camera down

Because they are on autopilot! Or they have a co-pilot doing the work whilst they relax/have a break (as you would have a break at work. A quite normal and actually necessary thing to do)

Apart from take off and landing, pilots have long periods of time with little to do. The plane is on autopilot. There are two to four of them, with set duty times and rest times. The plane gives them alarms and warnings. They eat, drink, sleep, do crosswords, chat, all sorts of things. Don't worry.

You do realise there is more than one pilot don't you?

Actually OP will be back any second to say for a fact it's a one seater light aircraft

A quick google brings up some amazing pictures and this article, which on skimming quickly, appears to suggest that the OP is not BU.

Yes I do realise there is more than one pilot but in fact the very photo that made me write this thread was a selfie of both pilots and two cabin crew. All smiling for the photo... I know it's only for a minute or two but I just don't think it's very professional.

The aircraft was probably on autopilot.

Im hoping this is a joke thread because I just cannot believe an OP could be so uninformed.

Read the link above, jelly

It's not like Biggles up there you know!

Planes are flown by computer now. The crew don't have to have hands on controls all the time, they're mainly waiting for their next feed or cuppa.

YABU but hilarious
I'm sure that if the trend for taking selfies resulted in planes plummeting to earth then it would be in the news

Seriously, there are a million more important things you could worry about when it comes to aviation.

Read the link above, jelly smile

I think I'd rather stick to having faith in people like my lot who are all pilots rather than scaremongering newspaper articles in the link provided.

My friend's husband is a first officer and plays games on his phone for good chunks of his long-ish haul flights. There is really not a lot to do once the plane is in the air and at cruising altitude. The plane isn't going to plunge to earth just because the pilot isn't glued to the controls.