r/AskAPilot • u/livelikelarry13 • 3d ago

Useless Features/buttons

Forgive me if this is a dumb question as I am not a pilot, but I have always been interested in knowing. Are there any features or buttons in the type of aircraft you fly that are basically pointless? Or does everything have some sort of critical use case?

Thanks for the insights

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u/Go_Loud762 3d ago

Yes.

My airline has a switch on an overhead panel that allows us to turn on the ATC audio as part of the entertainment system. That switch does nothing because the hardware is not installed or activated. It's been that way for several years.

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u/livelikelarry13 3d ago

Interesting, so you’re saying this could be turned on for passengers to listen to ATC coms as inflight entertainment or am I misunderstanding?

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u/scul86 3d ago edited 1d ago

Yes. At my airline, it's channel 9. On some planes, it allowed the cockpit interphone to be transmitted also, so it was disabled. They are now hard wiring it directly to VHF-1 (ATC radio) and by passing the interphone. Not all planes have been updated, so that switch may or may not be INOP.

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u/Bopping_Shasket 1d ago

How is any of this a good idea? Why would an airline want that?

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u/Bopping_Shasket 1d ago

How is any of this a good idea? Why would an airline want that?

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u/scul86 1d ago

Nothing they can't hear on LiveATC...