And now -- on a completely different tangent (sorry Tight Slot) -- what about your average PPL (with or without IMC/IR)? Reading this thread has made me think, to be honest I doubt very much I'd be able to prevent the "smoking hole in ground", but would possibly the possesion of actual *piloting skills* would make up for less knowledge of systems? I'd have thought your average IMC/Instrument rated pilot would understand rate based autopilots enough to get the a/c within a few miles of a suitable airport (wahoo! radio nav
) -- but any manual flying would be much harder (read: different) bewcause of inertial effects and such -- although would another type rated pilot, same company or not, be able to tell me how to set up a simple autoland? A/T coupling would make things easier but wouldn't the thrust available on a large jet make the "constant aspect"/ point-and-power type approach possible (understanding the lag in throttle response on a high bypass turbofan)...?
Just a thought, feel free to laugh/ridicule me as you decide necessary. I doubt, and hope it'd never be necessary, but it'd be nice to know.
(Incidentally, my own knowledge of wide/narrowbody jet systems comes from a couple of old ATPL manuals -- hence any glaring errors! I think I'll stick to my 152 -- single engine, single pilot, no automatics, 1xVOR 1xADF and DME, and only 25kHz VHF COM/NAV
)
Also, would it be worthwhile someone producing a sort of guide for your average PPL-level pilot/simmer to do something like this? Obviously type / a/c specific. It'd make interesting reading, even if it's of no practical value whatsoever