Mythbusters: could a passenger land a plane?

[Alphajet_Enthusiast]

Long story short, talk is cheap.

Talk is cheap but simulator time is expensive.

[Chris_F]

Long story short, talk is cheap.

Talk is cheap but simulator time is expensive.

[Craig.]

One thing to take in mind, the two guys on mythbusters are not your average passengers, They are both highly intelligent individuals with pleanty of experience with electronics and computers.

[alrot]

Anybuddy

[Brett_Henderson]

This is a fun topic, and is as old as simming. We've discussed it here at SimV a few times..and I've since discussed it with other real pilots; real flight instructors; real airline pilots....

If a simmer has "learned" to fly big jets by trial and error.. crashing time and again.. finally figuring out how to get the autopilot to fly an approach... and whatever other version of "Instant Airline Captain" he's used to get to where he can find the runway and plop the plane down in a way that won't trigger a crash (but would most definately have scared his pax into never getting on another airplane; the FAA grounding him, and the airline firing him).. then no.. he'd most likely not be able to avail his sim experience to land a big jet.

I'll share some wisdom and experience garnered from discussing this with real, jet pilots...

[a1]

I saw it. If I was the passenger I think I could land it. That was an awesome episode. I taped it.  :D

[beaky]

That episode was very disappointing because they'd promised to cover the "airplane taking off from moving treadmill" thing, but didn't.

I wasn't surprised that having a coach for their second attempts made all the difference: believe it or not, there is a precedent for this (with light aircraft) in situations where the pilot became incapacitated and the novice student or clueless non-pilot sitting in the other seat was talked down. Here's two examples:

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/ ... 54926.html

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.h ... A96E948260

One example I remember  involved a pilot following behind in his plane, observing and offering instruction, but I can't find a link for that... wish I could remember where I read it. The pax was a young relative of the pilot who had learned a little bit by observation but had never taken a lesson.  As anybody with even just a couple of hours of dual can tell you, keeping the plane shiny-side-up and landing it in one piece is really not that difficult to do, but the real challenge in that situation is staying calm and doing precisely as you're told... there's a lot that could go wrong if you don't.

At any rate, could the average schmo pull off the classic "flight crew ate the bad fish and it's up to you to land the plane" scenario? I don't know, but it's worth a try... imagine sitting back and saying "Sorry, I'm certain that I'm not qualified; I'm just going to wait to die..." A slim chance is better than none at all.
One thing I do know for sure, however, is that even with the latest in automation, it's not as simple as pushing a button. .. that seemed to be their final take on it, and that annoyed me.

[Fly2e]

OK, the pilot gets on the intercom and says we will be landing in about 15 minutes.
2 minutes later the stewardess gets on the intercom and says,
"Does anybody know how to fly a plane"?"
You with all of your simulator hours say, "Sure... I can".
As you are about to open the flight deck door, the stewardess says,
"Both the pilot & co-pilot had the fish and have lost consciousness, Good Luck!

OPEN COCKPIT DOOR

[expat]

OK, the pilot gets on the intercom and says we will be landing in about 15 minutes.
2 minutes later the stewardess gets on the intercom and says,
"Does anybody know how to fly a plane"?"
You with all of your simulator hours say, "Sure... I can".
As you are about to open the flight deck door, the stewardess says,
"Both the pilot & co-pilot had the fish and have lost consciousness, Good Luck![size]

[size=20]OPEN COCKPIT DOOR[/size]

Easy, ask the cabin crew for the combination

Matt

[H]

...I've never touched the controls of an airplane...

I've done a bit more than touch them: I've flown a plane but never landed one... I'm sure I could have with little trouble.

H
Still up in the air

8-)

[C]

Once its landed you need to stop it too...

[Mushroom_Farmer]

..........Talk is cheap but simulator time is expensive...."

It's free if you happen to know the right people.......Trust me  ;)  ;D

[beaky]

OK, the pilot gets on the intercom and says we will be landing in about 15 minutes.
2 minutes later the stewardess gets on the intercom and says,
"Does anybody know how to fly a plane"?"
You with all of your simulator hours say, "Sure... I can".
As you are about to open the flight deck door, the stewardess says,
"Both the pilot & co-pilot had the fish and have lost consciousness, Good Luck![size]

[size=20]OPEN COCKPIT DOOR[/size]

Easy, ask the cabin crew for the combination

Matt

No; click on that phrase to see what he means: you enter the flight deck to see that you have to shoot a Cat III  ILS... it's a very cool video; by the time the runway appears it's quite a surprise.  :o

[Dr.bob7]

A normal person couldnt, anyone who uses these forums could lol

[Dr.bob7]

I did watch that last night If you had abosulutly no experience id say no i have god 100 FSX hours pry about 40 ina 737-800 a person like me could probly land without killing anyone, Before Adam and Jamie got ATC help i saw jamie come in going 300 knots  :D he crashed to say the least