Bomber pilot helped land airliner after captain fell ill

[ExSp33db1rd]

As I remarked earlier, one can only play the situation the way the chips fall on any given day, rules, no rules, or SOP's not withstanding.

This happened.

It worked.

QED.

[llondel]

I've heard of cases before where a flight deck emergency has resulted in a call for a spare pilot, and invariably the spare is given the job of operating the radio and monitoring while the qualified pilot flies the aircraft. (OK, so UA232 was an exception.) She was flying into an unfamiliar airport, so having an extra pair of eyes on things to help with the workload seems an eminently sensible decision.

As for 'failing' his assessment, as an experienced military officer, I'd say his response would have been more to provide reassurance and calm to get the pilot into a better frame of mind for the task because that would have been a safer approach than trying to take over. That's what good military people do, build up the confidence of people on their team to achieve the goal.

[DozyWannabe]

Originally Posted by ExSp33db1rd

BOAC's comment about Al Q waiting to strike when a pilot had a problem, and just coincidentally placing a fake Air Force pilot on board, should have answered all stupid comments about who is allowed on the flight deck now.

Quite. Not to mention the fact that they'd have to open the door to let the medical people through if the incapacitated crew member was unable to make it to the cabin without assistance. I doubt any human being would waste a second worrying about an infinitessimally small risk to security if their colleague's life might be at stake - at least I sincerely hope that's the case!

...who might at least be able to use the radio if I asked him to !

That seems to have been what the B-1 pilot mostly ended up doing.

...so if the bean counters are so confident that modern airliners are "safe" with only two crew up front, why did the F/O need any help, couldn't she push all the buttons, send out a Mayday, ... without help ?

Almost certainly.

But in such circumstances it's definitely prudent to take all the help you can get!

Originally Posted by ExSp33db1rd

...remember the BAC 1-11 Captain that was nearly sucked out of the window when it blew out at altitude, fat chance he would have had if immediate assistance had been locked behind an FAA "secure" door, he owes his life to non-flight crew hanging on to his legs throught the ordeal.

Funnily enough that incident sprang to mind as I was reading about this one. RT in the BA5390 incident was apparently something of a moot point until the aircraft was low and slow enough for the FO to hear anything over the wind noise. Definitely a superlative example of airmanship and crew co-operation and no mistake - however there was a small degree of luck involved in that the aircraft was forced to transit some of the busiest airspace in the UK without being able to tell ATC what they were doing and why (not to mention without being able to hear ATC warn them if they were about to hit something).

The rather sobering thought occurs to me that a similar incident in this day and age would lead to fighters being scrambled with orders to intercept and possibly shoot down.

As an aside, and back to your previous point, the One-Eleven introduced a two-person flight deck for short-haul ops in the 1960s, and while it was a brilliant little aircraft by all accounts, it was much more "hands-on" to fly than a 737NG - or even a "Classic". Five-person crews were really a legacy of the old Lancastrian days, were they not?