Originally Posted by
diffident
The one thing I'm surprised at by reading this thread, is how the viewpoints of many differ in so many ways. Obviously, this chap was considerably disturbed by something in his life, that significantly impaired normal thinking. It doesn't mean however, that because he was thinking irrationally, that he wasn't capable of carrying out rational tasks. For example, he got to the airport without incident (we assume).
In accessing the aircraft, for which he had the requisite permitted company clearance, and with the job he had, he would have been familiar with at least the basic operations of the Q400, and most definitely would have been familiar with the cockpit layout and "what bits do what".
I agree that an airline pilot type-rated on the Q400, is a very professional post. I disagree that only a fully-trained, fully-qualified, type-rated person is capable in any capacity to get a Q400, or any commercial aircraft airborne.
Here's where I'm likely to draw comments taking my post out of context.... regardless of aircraft type, and the complexities of electronic systems - the basic principles of flight remain the same.
I too believe that a low experience "pilot" could get a Dash 8 airborne, if they'd done their homework. Back in my airline days, I was a 250 hour 172 pilot (my role at the airline was not as a pilot). However, I did have casual use of the DC-8-63 full motion simulator. By reading the flight manual, I was able to teach myself to fly the sim. I never had any dual, nor a co pilot, it was all solo, at night, and requiring an approach to "find" the runway for landing. I never had any problem returning the "aircraft" to the button of the runway for it's next use. If I could do it, I'm sure anyone else could too, considering that there is much more easily available simulation available now then was ever imagined 35 years ago...