Why?

[happytraveller]

Here is something that has always puzzled me........

Why, in aviation, do pilots after the landing gear has been retracted, use the phrase "positive climb".

Surely, if the climb is negative then it is a descent. Climb has to be positive, otherwise it is a descent. So why say positive climb? Why not just "climb"???

Any ideas????

thanks from the confused.

Smooth landings.

[NZ255]

No, just after take off they say (if it is true) positive climb, gear up. Then the FO (or whoever isn't preforming the take off) raises the gear. If they were losing altitude, then they wouldn't want no wheels when and if they touch down on the runway Though after V1 they, unless they have a very long runway, might not be able to stop in time. But if you can't take off, you can't take off.....scary

Oh just read the other part of your question.....not sure. Maybe so there's no confusion?

[Chairman]

Because "positive climb" (and the more common "Positive rate") is a long phrase, while "climb" is just a single syllable.

The usual sequence is that the FO who is looking at things INside the cockpit calls "Rotate", the Captain who is looking at things OUTside the cockpit pulls the yoke back, when the FO sees indications of climb on 2 instruments (eg VSI and RA) he calls "positive rate" and the Captain calls "Gear Up" which is the command for the FO to raise the gear.

In a noisy cockpit if the pilot had just rotated and was waiting for the FO to call "climb" and the FO coughed, all sorts of nasty things could happen. There's no way you can mistake a cough for "positive rate".

Gary

[bennz]

Otherway you can interpret it ,is think of the " positive climb " phrase as :
" The climbing sequence is on a successful path ( positive) so it is safe to bring up the gears as we don't need them for now "

[A185F]

Yea as the others say it is before the gear is rased, meaning positive rate of climb. Some say "positive climb" others "positive rate" and others "positive rate of climb". Lets not just say capt or f/o because it can be either. The pilot flying (PF) who will be performing the take off rotates and climbs away. The pilot monitoring (PM) will confirm that they are climbing by looking at the VSI showing positve rate of climb (insted of say flying some slug and just hopping into the air and staggering along the runway trying to gain some more altitude) and call "positve climb" where by the PF will call "gear up", where by the PM will respond to the call with "gear up" or whatever whilst raising the landing gear lever. Once the gear is up the PM will say something like "gear up and locked" and the PF will respond with something like "confirmed" or "checked" or whatever. Lots of little differneces for different operators procedures but the gist is the same.
Just cockpit jibber jabber and bla bla. All talk.

[Peppermint]

I've always taken it that it means they're gaining altitude while holding a steady/gaining speed.

[2fst4u]

The reason "positive climb" as opposed to climb is used is because it is more than one syllable as Chairman has said. surley you are familiar with the phonetic alphabet, used on radios on air, ground and sea. The phonetic alphabet's purpose is to make letter easier to understand (B,C,D,E,G,P,T,V,Zee all sound similar so longer, easier to interpret words are used like bravo, charlie, delta). Using two words makes it easier to understand what is being said. It would be confusing if the pilot thought the first captain had said "Lime" "Chime" or "Sublime", but less confusing if "positive climb" is used.

Besides, it is usually positive rate (also already stated) anyway.