slim_slag...
Originally Posted by Floppy Link
...then it is theoretically possible to save the day and walk away the hero...
so we agree! I suppose my point was that if the autopilot is disconnected, there is a high probability that you'll all die. It's just that there are a fair few ways to inadvertantly trip off the autopilot before you even get to talking on the radio...for the 757 I think I can remember at least 6 - and only one of them is placarded "DISENGAGE"
And now for some massive thread drift - Here's another question we once pondered....
"Could a police helicopter be landed in a survivable manner by the front observer (left hand seat) in the event of incapacitation of the (single) pilot in the right hand seat?"
bearing in mind that...
1) it's an Ec135 or other modern glass cockpit machine with sophisticated autopilot
2) One set of controls only - the front observer does have a joystick but all that does is control the camera!
so with only the autopilot controls, the collective lever between the seats and the ability to talk on the radio...we had a go. With a cheat sheet of what to do, what buttons to push and in what order, the regular observers could control the flight path of the aircraft and would probably have been able to fly a coupled ILS to get the aircraft to a crumpled heap on the runway of a major airport where the fire engines and ambulances are waiting and possibly survive....much better than a spiral death dive from 3000ft.