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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

#161

Post by stouset »

nonameiguess wrote: post #122
jonny_eh wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a multi-car pileup, the car immediately in front of you literally stops in an instant, much faster than if it were to fully hit the brakes. It's much faster than any driver could realistically expect. It can happen so fast, you may not even see brake lights turn on. It's why these pileups can get so surprisingly large.

Just to quantify this, the shortest 60-0 stopping distance for a "consumer-grade" car (meaning not a formula one vehicle) is the Porsche 911, which can do it in 27m. This is nearly 6 vehicle lengths. Usual safety guidelines are to stay about 3 car lengths behind whoever you're following, so even world's greatest brakes are not gonna save you if the vehicle in front stops in 0m because it hits an immovable pile of alr…

> Usual safety guidelines are to stay about 3 car lengths behind whoever you're following

Uh, no. Usual safety guidelines are to stay a speed-dependent distance behind whomever you're following. The one I've heard most often quoted is one car length per ten miles per hour, so at 70mph you should be a minimum of seven car lengths behind.

Three lengths is comically short for those kinds of speeds.

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

#162

Post by Maursault »

I grew up in Florida. It would take all my fingers and toes and more to count the number of times I have seen articles or even witnessed personally from the beach a pilot of a small craft either die naturally at the controls or have some medical event that causes a crash and death.

Why are small planes necessary? Am I wrong to believe what it seems like, that the overwhelmingly popular purpose is entertainment? Is anyone else sick of being lead poisoned?

I am all for scrutinizing and restricting the driver's licenses of the elderly or those with severe medical issues that will inevitably lead to an accident. This goes doubly so for pilots. I know there's a lot young pilots. I take no issue with you. But it seems like most pilots and owners of small planes are over retirement age. It is the entitlement that gets under my skin, the entitlement to poison everyone on the ground with lead as well as put innocent bystanders in danger. Why do we allow this? There are severe problems with conservative ideals, and mainly it has to do with entitlement, a telltale symptom of mental illness, namely, narcissism. Fuck narcissists.

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

#163

Post by JasonFruit »

Ancapistani wrote: post #137
JasonFruit wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that's the case, shouldn't the controller be a Certificated Remote Pilot under Part 107 rules?

Heh - I think this wouldn’t fall under 107 because the aircraft weighs more than fifty pounds. … unless they applied for and were granted a waiver beforehand, which would raise other questions :)

That should probably be done as a precaution for all aircraft. It's a win for everyone.

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

#164

Post by WalterBright »

AdamJacobMuller wrote: post #124
tialaramex wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest problem is communication. The best thing you can have, more than some idea how an aeroplane works even, is knowing how to talk to the ground. If you're talking to the ground, you get both practical benefits (people on the ground know how to fly that plane, and know what you need to do to get it back down safely) and a morale boost. Chances are if you're taking over in an emergency, the radios are already…

> once people realise you're serious I know people joke around on guard, but, I have to imagine joking about that topic is rather taboo.

transmission on the emergency radio: "I'm sinking, I'm sinking!"

responder: "What are you thinking about?"

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

#165

Post by outworlder »

haunter wrote: post #19
jolux wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but I thought takeoff and landing were the two parts that still required mostly manual control?

Autoland has been a (mostly emergency) feature for years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoland It might have been installed on the plane https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-ruFmgTpqA https://www.easa.europa.eu/community/topics/emergency-autola...

Autoland in a Caravan?!

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

#166

Post by stouset »

DavidSJ wrote: post #99
aerostable_slug wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 r…

I played that game a lot. What was the maneuver?

My wild guess is a barrel roll or aileron roll. Both are pretty easy to walk a novice through, and not something where you'd be particularly worried about the consequences of them getting it seriously wrong.

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

#167

Post by kingcharles »

js2 wrote: post #8

Similar thing happened to Doug White in 2009 while in a twin-engine King Air 200. He had limited flight experience on single-engine Cessna 172s, but no flight experience on a King Air 200. https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2009/april/14/u... Simulation of the flight set to ATC recordings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqPvVxxIDr0

I thought they must be reposting this landing when I saw the headline! It's a great video though. I look forward to a new one from this landing in the near future.

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

#168

Post by hoten »

WalterBright wrote: post #160
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…

Taking off isn't hard, an airplane will take off on its own. It'll fly straight and level if you simply let go of the controls. It's the landing that's hard, and Moore would crash every time he landed.

There's an episode in the first season of "Into the Night" that suggests the complete opposite. Oops!

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

#169

Post by KennyBlanken »

MerelyMortal wrote: post #95
bluedays wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

You talked about reaction time, but not situational awareness. Thankfully there was not a car next to you that you would have otherwise swerved into.

Yeah. Parent commenter didn't notice the six car pileup until after they'd passed it.

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

#170

Post by WalterBright »

My dad (Air Force) said that sometimes a mechanic would decide he knew how to fly, and would take off in a military plane (this was long ago). They'd fly around a bit, and then realize they have no idea how to land.

They'd get on the radio, and the tower would talk them down. Meet the mechanic on the runway, and escort him off to prison.

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