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Passenger with “no idea how to fly” lands plane after pilot incapacitated

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Re: Passenger with “no idea how to fly” lands plane after pilot incapacitated

#81

Post by ashtonbaker »

enw wrote: post #43
civil_engineer wrote: post #13

Pilot here. I'm floored that a person with no flying experience could put this airplane down without a scratch. Air traffic controllers are not necessarily pilots, but luckily, this one was a pilot and certified instructor. ATC and passenger worked through a stressful situation to produce an amazing outcome. Bravo!

> Air traffic controllers are not necessarily pilots, but luckily, this one was a pilot and certified instructor. Source? The article itself is quite short.

wapo article quotes this from the liveatc recording

Re: Passenger with “no idea how to fly” lands plane after pilot incapacitated

#82

Post by mattmaroon »

tshaddox wrote: post #47
tragictrash wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always said the reason we don't have flying cars yet is because people can't drive in 2D much less 3D. This gives me hope.

Isn’t 3D easier? There sure is a lot more room.

It is definitely not easier. I mean avoiding a mid air collision might be but that’s rarely what kills a pilot.

Re: Passenger with “no idea how to fly” lands plane after pilot incapacitated

#83

Post by the_af »

enw wrote: post #43
civil_engineer wrote: post #13

Pilot here. I'm floored that a person with no flying experience could put this airplane down without a scratch. Air traffic controllers are not necessarily pilots, but luckily, this one was a pilot and certified instructor. ATC and passenger worked through a stressful situation to produce an amazing outcome. Bravo!

> Air traffic controllers are not necessarily pilots, but luckily, this one was a pilot and certified instructor. Source? The article itself is quite short.

It is mentioned (speculated about, actually) in the ATC radio chatter, see here near the 4:50 mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MDwzNtDMlA

Re: Passenger with “no idea how to fly” lands plane after pilot incapacitated

#84

Post by jjtheblunt »

tshaddox wrote: post #47
tragictrash wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always said the reason we don't have flying cars yet is because people can't drive in 2D much less 3D. This gives me hope.

Isn’t 3D easier? There sure is a lot more room.

no : stalls are deadly in 3D, send the ground at you with no control unless one recovers

Re: Passenger with “no idea how to fly” lands plane after pilot incapacitated

#85

Post by sandworm101 »

tadfisher wrote: post #66
sandworm101 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Moore is suspected of being responsible for approximately 100 thefts in Washington, Idaho, and Canada, including bicycles, automobiles, light aircraft , and speedboats.[15] It is believed that he learned how to fly small planes by reading aircraft manuals, handbooks, watching a "How to fly a small airplane" DVD, and playing flight simulator computer games .[17] One plane he stole was a Cessna 182, FAA registration n…

However, he crashed every plane he flew.

He also wasn't landing at an airport with help from ATC. If you put an aircraft down on an unprepared beach/field, and walk away, that was a good landing irrespective of any damage done.

For many pilots, a "crash" must be unintentional. Deliberately putting an aircraft down somewhere other than a runway is "ditching" or a forced landing, but never a crash.

Re: Passenger with “no idea how to fly” lands plane after pilot incapacitated

#86

Post by mhb »

bluedays wrote: post #61
asdfman123 wrote: post #22

I bet this was a guy raised on video games. I was about to make a joke about it but I'm actually serious. Once I, a former Houstonian with no experience driving on ice, was driving through the snowy mountains and lost control of my car. Instead of panicking, my video-game-induced laser focus kicked in and I calmly piloted the car until the wheels gained traction and I could park the car on the side of the road. But l…

I’m pretty video games saved my life while driving, too. Once I was driving down the highway at 70 miles per hour and the car in front of me stopped on a dime. I always maintain a good distance from the car in front of me but I knew for sure if I would have just hit the breaks I would have hit him. I wound up swerving into the next lane with a reaction time of under a second only to drive by a six car pile up which i…

I'm not so sure you know what a good distance is from the car in front of you.

Re: Passenger with “no idea how to fly” lands plane after pilot incapacitated

#87

Post by aerostable_slug »

asdfman123 wrote: post #22

I bet this was a guy raised on video games. I was about to make a joke about it but I'm actually serious. Once I, a former Houstonian with no experience driving on ice, was driving through the snowy mountains and lost control of my car. Instead of panicking, my video-game-induced laser focus kicked in and I calmly piloted the car until the wheels gained traction and I could park the car on the side of the road. But l…

Quite a few years ago, a buddy of mine got an incentive ride in the back seat of an F-18 while he was in the Navy. The pilot handed over the controls to him and started to walk him through some aerobatic maneuver when my friend just executed whatever it was (I don't remember the specifics).

The pilot was astounded that a novice flyer would perform the maneuver so well and asked if my pal had any simulator time. His response: "I played F/A-18 Hornet on my Mac a lot."

Re: Passenger with “no idea how to fly” lands plane after pilot incapacitated

#88

Post by travisjungroth »

anthropodie wrote: post #73
p1mrx wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not the 3D that kills you; it's the sudden 2D at the end.

Yup but I always thought what if we do like a 1 feet above the ground? We avoid death by plummeting from the sky. There are other advantages like - we don't need roads and we save a lot of energy and money on their construction and maintenance. - we also save energy by going from point A to point B directly instead of following the road. - No friction between tyre and ground I guess the amount of energy required to k…

You’re not going point to point a foot above the surface unless you’re over water (calm seas at that). Soviets built a concept plane that did just this, though. Airplanes are more efficient near the ground than a little bit away, but not as efficient as at normal cruising altitudes.

Re: Passenger with “no idea how to fly” lands plane after pilot incapacitated

#89

Post by proc0 »

asdfman123 wrote: post #22

I bet this was a guy raised on video games. I was about to make a joke about it but I'm actually serious. Once I, a former Houstonian with no experience driving on ice, was driving through the snowy mountains and lost control of my car. Instead of panicking, my video-game-induced laser focus kicked in and I calmly piloted the car until the wheels gained traction and I could park the car on the side of the road. But l…

Yeah, games are so misunderstood. It's not just for kids, and it's not just entertainment, it just happens to be that way because of the stigma. They are interactive experiences with software and that could be virtually anything. The learning and training potential is huge if companies started making proper games again (where the experience is priority) and not fancy theme park pay2win casinos for children.

Re: Passenger with “no idea how to fly” lands plane after pilot incapacitated

#90

Post by moduspol »

schmookeeg wrote: post #60
jmkni wrote: post #53

Stupid question, but could this guy end up in some sort of legal trouble? He's obviously a hero and saved the lives of everyone on board, but it's still illegal to fly a plane while unqualified, right?

While I think even the colossally tone-deaf FAA wouldn't try to prosecute this guy under these circumstances, there's an odd gray area here, where a certificated pilot can deviate from any regulation to meet the need of an emergency [1] -- so I think a twist of logic would allow a non-pilot to be allowed to deviate from the "must have a pilot certificate" rules to meet his emergency the same way while acting as pilot…

One might argue that if he's specifically following the direct instructions of the ATC, who is a licensed pilot in this case, that the ATC is "the pilot," and his allowing of a non-pilot to push the buttons on his behalf was a necessary deviation to handle the emergency and land the plane.
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