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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

#421

Post by the_af »

robscallsign wrote: post #416
the_af wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First of all, thanks for the awesome and comprehensive reply, I really appreciate it. > Particularly electronic warfare, radar performance, modern beyond visible range tactics, modern weapons performance porifiles Do you mean in, say, DCS F-18 the ECW systems and things like AIM-120 performance are fake, either because the devs don't have access to the real performance data or because they are under obligation not to…

Thanks for the reply. First, while I probably have a few thousand hours in the F18 in DCS, and a few thousand takeoffs and significantly fewer landings, I'm just a flight simmer, with no real experience in military or civilian aviation. Everything I say is just my speculations and guesses. > Do you mean in, say, DCS F-18 the ECW systems and things like AIM-120 performance are fake, either because the devs don't have…

Not ramblings at all. Again I appreciate your reply. Will definitely watch your video :)

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

#422

Post by sokoloff »

shortstuffsushi wrote: post #345
pilot7378535 wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Flying cars" made sense to me until I started flying. Now I think "driving airplanes" is the more appropriate phrase for what might be in the realm of possibility. For example: here's how you'd prepare to visit distant relatives with each vehicle: Car: load up however much weight you want, turn the keys and start driving. Low on gas? Just turn off at the next exit. Weather looks bad? Just drive slowly and carefully…

How much weight do you think it would realistically take to alter flight in a plane of this size? For instance, if both the pilot and passenger weighed e.g. 200lbs and sat toward the left of the plane, would that considerably (or perhaps even just perceptibly) impact flight? Same for some of the other variables, is there an appreciable different for things like magnetic variation? Wind, of course, seems reasonable -…

Fore and aft weight distribution matters a lot in terms of how the airplane flies. Side to side not as much. (Most single-engine airplanes have more moment arm of fuel weight change in the wings than moment arm of two people sitting on the left side of the airplane.)

Fore and aft changes in center of gravity affect how far the center of mass is from the tail control surfaces and the amount of negative lift the tail has to contribute. I can feel the difference when my (fairly small framed) family moves around in the back cabin.

Aft weight distribution makes the airplane far more sensitive in pitch, reduces drag from the tail negative lift, which slightly increases climb rate and/or forward speed for a given power setting.

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

#423

Post by mlyle »

buildsjets wrote: post #418
efitz wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have 30 minutes and 2 touch-and-go’s in my log book. I suck at Microsoft Flight Simulator. In 30 minutes of the instructor sitting next to me, I successfully landed and took off in a Cessna 172, learned to trim power, elevators and flaps, learned how to transmit and how to “squawk ident”, and what channel to use in emergencies (1202 IIRC). Operating the airplane was very straightforward. Without the instructor or s…

A good memory jogger for the emergency transponder codes is: Hi Jack, I can’t talk right now, I’ve got an emergency. 7500 -> Being Hijacked 7600 -> Radio/Comms Failure 7700 -> Emergency

I think 1202 is not intended to be a transponder code, but an approximation of 121.5.

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

#424

Post by mlyle »

platz wrote: post #415
GekkePrutser wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was a Cessna 208, not a 172. Possibly glass cockpit and definitely turboprop. It would look more like this unless it has the glass cockpit of course: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Cessna_2...

can you even see out the front window with how low the seat is?

Yah. This is something that is always messed up in pictures of cockpits or flight simulators. The eye is pretty wide angle compared to any reasonable looking photograph inside a cockpit.

In the real world, when you sit up straight, you see just fine out of a tricycle gear airplane and see the runway ahead on the ground and the ground below you in the air. And then you slouch a couple inches and look down and have a great view of the bottom instruments.

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

#425

Post by buildsjets »

pilot7378535 wrote: post #283
FartyMcFarter wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had flight lessons, and after a few hours of training (most of which were unrelated to landing), I was able to land on a short runway, about 2000 feet long. Landing on a long runway (10001 feet / 3048 meters [1]) as was done here is much easier, as long as the plane doesn't malfunction and visibility is good. So I'm not that surprised that some people would be able to do this given good instructions over the radio…

Same, I'd hate to see a novice try to land on a narrow 2000' runway hemmed in by tall trees and a "snotty" 7+ kt crosswind component pushing the plane around. Lucky they were in Florida with working radios and gas in the tank to reach an accommodating runway. None of that should detract from the emergency pilot's excellent handling of the situation though—bravo! [edit] Apparently there was a significant crosswind: KP…

Translation for the non-pilots:

The weather at Palm Beach International Airport on the 10’th at 15:53 GMT was: Winds, from the North-Northeast at 11 knots, gusting up to 17 knots. Visibility 10 statute miles. Clouds, some scattered ones at 4,200 and 4,600 feet above the airport ground level. Temperature 26 Celsius, dew point 15 Celsius.

METAR is pretty character efficient.

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

#427

Post by buildsjets »

mlyle wrote: post #423
buildsjets wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A good memory jogger for the emergency transponder codes is: Hi Jack, I can’t talk right now, I’ve got an emergency. 7500 -> Being Hijacked 7600 -> Radio/Comms Failure 7700 -> Emergency

I think 1202 is not intended to be a transponder code, but an approximation of 121.5.

Could be. I just assumed squawk. (121.5 is the universal emergency VHF audio comm frequency.)

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

#428

Post by rejor121 »

whimsicalism wrote: post #172
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!

Listening to the audio of the conversation, it doesn't seem like the passenger has no flying experience... At minimum they must have spent significant time around aviation or be ex-military. e: From another comment on Reddit > Examples: > The passenger knew what button to press on the yoke to transmit to ATC. > The passenger knew aviation phraseology and phonetics “333 Lima Delta”. > The passenger knew where the alti…

I lean towards aggreing with you. It’s possible he was prior military. I was an AE and worked on basically all of the flight systems in my eight years in the navy.

The fact he knew phonetics just makes me believe he served or at the very least, was heavily exposed in another function.

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

#429

Post by TheRealNGenius »

mmcconnell1618 wrote: post #34

Mythbusters once went to a commercial airline simulator to test the idea that a passenger with no training could land the plane. Without ATC help, it wasn't a great outcome. With ATC, they faired much better. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ8K-hOcRHk

*fared. It undermines the legitimacy of your entire comment since an elementary schooler could spell better than you.

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

#430

Post by [deleted] »

judge2020 wrote: post #272
FartyMcFarter wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real reason is that no one wants thousands of flying cars buzzing everywhere over a city.

The real reason is that we don't have one-person aircraft that can stop and hover with <300ft stopping distance and is under 10 ft wide. Helicopters come close but they're expensive and I'd hate to see parking for such a model of transportation.

[deleted]
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