How many times a year do ATC personnel or any personnel on the ground outside of a simulator practice talking a flight attendant alone inside a simulator (Boeing or Airbus and other common types) through the actions necessary to complete a successful auto or manual landing?
The results of anyone even with a PPL or CPL with no previous training on the type or any experience of auto land I think would be very interesting.
With 24 years of auto land experience as a pilot I think I would make a complete
mess of remotely voice instructing even a PPL or a CPL pilot unfamiliar with a
L1011 or B767 on how to achieve an auto land after finding themselves alone in a quiet dark cockpit.

40&80

As a PPL, with going on for 300 hours, it took me 15 hours in a sim, with a very good instructor, to be reasonably confident of landing (jet simulated was a 70 tonne aircraft.)

Put me in the RHS of a real jet and I foresee a big hole in the ground.

I'd do my best, it just would not be good enough in all probability.

Guys - it really IS time to put this to bed!

I (hopefully) leave you with this old adage -"If you are going to crash an aeroplane, better to do it near an airfield rescue service than in the middle of the ocean."

Night night.

What would I do with a 300 hr pilot, flown years ago, in the right seat?

Comm? Into ORD!?!?! Absolutely not. "Listen to the radio, back me up with the altitudes, headings and freqs assigned."

I'd point out the radios, mic selectors, speaker volume, auto pilot and auto throttles, along with a very brief overview of the MCP and FMC. Basic overview in the event something stupid happens to me.

Gear and flaps? Nah, it would be easier to reach over and do it myself as opposed to having to teach ground school at 200+ kts.

Final 3 green - the plan would be to have you set up the a/c for an autoland. Hand flying the a/c to a landing, with low experience, is too risky.

@p51guy:
I'll venture a guess that very few pilots will ascend during the Rapture ... :} so the flight safety issue on that day ought to be OK. :ok:

I'll get my coat ...

PT. Funny you should mention the man who jumped into the Potomac all those years ago. By coincidence, I was relating the story to a non- aviation person earlier today. I still remember this hero's name. Lenny Skutnik. Top man.

Every one of my FO and command trainees had their training captain "die" on them at 150nm inbound on a flight during the latter part of their training. If you can't fly a modern jet single-pilot you shouldn't be in the cockpit IMO.

yeah, ok, who are you going to tell your old jokes to if the other pilot goes tango uniform?

Don't knock it.. scenario, you loose your capt/fo and have a pilot(single who can handle the radios) or tech (who know's type and can assist in the menial procedure of setting (cross confirmed) configurations... Not to say that the hero pic could not doo it all on him or her self.. This is a great Airline story..

Sensible stuff, provided you know that the available flight attendant is suitable for the task and situation. Sensible if you have sufficient time to brief them on what you want them to do and not do. Very sensible indeed if they have a flying license of any sort. Absolutely essential if you simply want to cover your back at the inevitable enquiry.

Having said all that, with only a typical cabin crew sample to choose from, I'd rather operate single crew than add to my workload for absolutely no good reason. That could be achieved, to some degree, without exposure to punitive action during the enquiry, by confining involvement to the reading out of checklist items (at least, according to any Company procedures I've ever been required to comply with).

Okay, I'll bite. All of you highly experienced captains are convinced that no-one could do it better, makes me feel sad for the rest.....

And yet. Back to that BA111 experience at Cranebank. If you are the low time PPL alone in the dark cockpit, and manage to call MAYDAY without turning the autopilot off by mistake, why indeed cannot someone talk you down to an autoland at LHR or the equivalent?

As I recall, all I had to do was set the flaps, reduce the throttle settings, and steer it on the ground. Which has to be better than no help at all, if both your professionals become U/S......however unlikely.

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I hope she remembered to start the stopwatch, so she knew how many minutes to charge at f/o rates.


(thinks...)


Ok, scrap that idea, the f/o rate is probably less than she earns anyway.


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