Hi all,
First, I'd like to apologize if I'm in the wrong forum. I know that some might get annoyed at posts like this, but I gather it's both an interesting speculation and informative for people who have been pondering over the subject. Again, I'm sorry if this strikes as stupid or bandwidth-consuming to those who arrow the skies for living...
Anyways, every now and then there's a discussion over at the flightsimming communitie's biggest sites (Flightsim.com, Avsim.com) about a situation, in which both pilots would become incapacitated and a non-pilot pax (A flightsimmer!) would have to land the plane. One such is currently going on at avsim.com.
I'm going to copy my post from avsim here as my "version" of things that I would do, if I ever encountered such a situation.
I'm a person you would call a "PC-pilot" or "armchair pilot", but a very serious one, aspiring to be a real world airline pilot one day.
I'd like to hear comments about the scenario from everyone, esp. pilots.
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Hi,
Very interesting...
I have no PPL or above, but have flown Cessnas and Pipers from the right seat quite lot, with no problems.
I had a go in a full-motion, level D MD-11 simulator 6 months ago.
Did a few approaches and takeoffs and landed without a problem.
I admit that it was quite different from what I expected but IMO it wasn't anything so special you all keep talking about. Airplanes are airplanes, regardless of how big they are. The basic functions and laws apply to airliners as well as C172s.
I think that given the right plane (say 767) and some time to analyze the situation, I would have no problem bringing the beast down.
Tell me if I'm missing something, but here's an example, and I'll use the 767 as I'm a PIC767 fanatic :
Both pilots out, plane flying on AP.
- Left seat, check that AP is on and check also what it's doing from the FMC, MCP etc.
- OK, we're on LNAV and VNAV modes cruising along the route seen in FMC, FL380
- contact ATC and declare an emergency (squawk 7700)
- I would be given instructions to change to another frequency and would soon be given instructions by a real 767 pilot.
- 50% chance is that I would be given instructions to reprogram new waypoints to FMC, once the real pilot knew that I was familiar with it.
But I still wouldn't do it "alone" as the pilot would still get me through every step of the reprogramming to minimize all errors.
- 50% chance is that I would be only given instructions to use MCP hdg sel, ALT (V/S) and speed modes, since it's more simple that way.
I really don't know which would it be, FMC or direct MCP modes, but in autopilot definately. _All the way_.
- I would be directed into a CAT III airfield/rwy and be setup for an autoland. Ideally I would only have to use:
* FMC (if not for programming, then at least checks for fuel, app
speeds etc)
* gear lever
* flaps lever
* autobrake switch
* speedbrake lever
* MCP as a whole + Nav1 freq/crs selectors
* Transponder (to code 7700 I believe)
In short:
1. check that plane stable on AP (A/T on, F/D on, _some_ lateral and vertical modes on), and contact ATC and get instructions from ATC and a pilot and do the following with their help:
2. check fuel and position from FMC (also check warning lights on panel)
3. squawk 7700
4. hdg sel in MCP (what I'm told)
5. ALT and V/S in MCP (what I'm told)
6. speed in MCP (again, what I'm told)
7. lower flaps at appropriate speeds
8. tune given CAT III ILS rwy data in Nav1 (freq/crs)
9. select ILS display
10. capture loc, gs / activate APP-mode
11. lower gear at appropriate phase
12. arm autobrake (max) and speedbrake
13. activate L,C,R autopilots above 1500 AGL
14. check final approach speed from FMC, dial it (+additives)
15a enjoy the ride down and check the "become a hero" in after landing checks
15b try to use reverser thrust (might be a little tricky mechanically tho, but odds are that the rwy is so long that brakes are enough to do the trick)
ALL THE TIME MONITOR AIRSPEED AND ALTITUDE
The list above seems premeditated (!) and something that would be very difficult to remember etc., but I just quickly wrote it off the bottom of by head, and really don't think that it would be more difficult than that.
With a plane other than 767 (or other than a Boeing), it would be (for me at least) a different story.
Comments?
cheers,
Tero
-- Cut Cut --
There you have it, comments?
Tero