Could I land an airliner?

Author
Discussion

Pentoman

Original Poster:

4,828 posts

278 months

Monday 8th September 2008
quotequote all
Stupid question, could be interesting though. I've done one half hour flying experience in a Tiger Moth, and a 1 hour lesson in a Cessna where I took off and ligned up the thing before landing. Have played perhaps 20 hours of flight simulator and could land a plane alright on that using the rudder and stuff (not sure what my difficulty settings are though) and have played a few other plane games.

Is there any chance whatsoever that, for some reason in an emergency on a big clear runway, I could land a small airliner without completely ballsing the whole craft into tiny smithereens? What about if I had guidance from someone ... over the radio? ...in the cockpit?

CraigW

12,248 posts

297 months

Monday 8th September 2008
quotequote all
radio tower, turn on autoland, job done.

Timmy35

13,014 posts

213 months

Monday 8th September 2008
quotequote all
Wouldn't you just switch on the 'auto-landing' system in a modern airliner?

Ah ^^^ beaten too it.

Edited by Timmy35 on Monday 8th September 14:29

chris.mapey

4,778 posts

282 months

Monday 8th September 2008
quotequote all
I'd say you could.

Have you seen the Mythbusters show covering this very topic? The two presenters were put in a simulator with no instruction and told to land the plane. IIRC both crashed, then they were "talked down" by a chap and both landed safely...

They concluded that it's possible to do it, but unlikely to ever be needed as the automatic systems on most planes can land it for you!

HTH

Chris

hugoagogo

23,416 posts

248 months

Monday 8th September 2008
quotequote all
don't they have automatic landing thingmies?

edit: d'oh

Edited by hugoagogo on Monday 8th September 14:29

FourWheelDrift

90,934 posts

299 months

Monday 8th September 2008
quotequote all
There was a program on the TV a little while ago when they put a home PC computer simulation player into a proper full airliner simulation machine and he landed it. Not quite the same thing (no nerves or pressure) but still needed all the same skills and ability to know what everything did and where controls and dials were.

dan101smith

16,965 posts

226 months

Monday 8th September 2008
quotequote all
Piece of piss.

The majority of training that airline pilots undertake is how to service the cabin crew.

Timmy35

13,014 posts

213 months

Monday 8th September 2008
quotequote all
dan101smith said:
Piece of piss.

The majority of training that airline pilots undertake is how to service the cabin crew.
yes

Nothing a pilot dreads more than pair of jammed flaps on the final approach.

hugoagogo

23,416 posts

248 months

Monday 8th September 2008
quotequote all
has anyone done the conveyor belt joke yet?

anonymous-user

69 months

Monday 8th September 2008
quotequote all
No you couldn't.

It would take you ages to set up the aircraft for an autoland. You could only do this if you were able to use the radio on the aircraft and then get hold of someone on the other end. Once you did this you would have to find someone familiar with the aircraft you are actually in who could talk you through setting up the aircraft. Do you think qualified experts are just sitting around in ATC centers in case this event happens?

You can't just do an autoland at any airport and not all aircraft even have an autoland facility. The airport you have somehow got yourself to must have the necessary equipment for an autoland to be possible.

It would take far too long to do and you would most likely run out of fuel.

Before all the PHs have-a-go-heroes turn up and say it's easy they've done it in a simulator. Remember most of these 'simulator experience' days are either in easy to fly unrealistic sims at airshows or real ones with someone telling them exactly what to do and when, with the easiest most benign conditions possible.

Puggit

49,085 posts

263 months

Monday 8th September 2008
quotequote all
How about an airliner with no power - such as the Air Transat incident...?

esselte

14,626 posts

282 months

Monday 8th September 2008
quotequote all
Puggit said:
How about an airliner with no power - such as the Air Transat incident...?
Well I've never seen an airliner miss the ground yet.......

JAGS

934 posts

223 months

Monday 8th September 2008
quotequote all
hugoagogo said:
has anyone done the conveyor belt joke yet?
no, but i'll do this one:


Edited by JAGS on Monday 8th September 14:46

rhinochopig

17,932 posts

213 months

Monday 8th September 2008
quotequote all
Timmy35 said:
dan101smith said:
Piece of piss.

The majority of training that airline pilots undertake is how to service the cabin crew.
yes

Nothing a pilot dreads more than pair of jammed flaps on the final approach.
Very good, have a rofl

markcjd

1,485 posts

202 months

Monday 8th September 2008
quotequote all
Pentoman said:
Stupid question, could be interesting though. I've done one half hour flying experience in a Tiger Moth, and a 1 hour lesson in a Cessna where I took off and ligned up the thing before landing. Have played perhaps 20 hours of flight simulator and could land a plane alright on that using the rudder and stuff (not sure what my difficulty settings are though) and have played a few other plane games.

Is there any chance whatsoever that, for some reason in an emergency on a big clear runway, I could land a small airliner without completely ballsing the whole craft into tiny smithereens? What about if I had guidance from someone ... over the radio? ...in the cockpit?
The theory is quite simple but, autoland aside, the practice is somewhat trickier. Holding 300 tonnes of aircraft on the edge of a stall "feels" different to a simulator of any description.

The bigger problem these days would be getting into the bloody cockpit...


off_again

13,892 posts

249 months

Monday 8th September 2008
quotequote all
CraigW said:
radio tower, turn on autoland, job done.
Yeah right.

The misconception that these systems actually land the plane is often passed around by the media. On those 1% of days when there is no traffic, you have plenty of time, there is no wind and the weather is perfect - then I am sure they are fine. But on the rest of the 99% of the days, you will find that there is a pilot at the end of the controls making sure that you land correctly.

Funny - if we didn't need two pilots in a commercial airliner, why do we still have them?

DLR trains?

anonymous-user

69 months

Monday 8th September 2008
quotequote all
Timmy35 said:
Wouldn't you just switch on the 'auto-landing' system in a modern airliner?

Ah ^^^ beaten too it.
How would you do that?

Deva Link

26,934 posts

260 months

Monday 8th September 2008
quotequote all
I was on a corporate hospitality thing and landed a Boeing something or other at the old Hong Kong airport - complete with turn at the sign and everything.

The Instructor seemed quite impressed so I asked him if I'd be able to land for real if a "can anybody on board fly this plane" cry went up and he quite deflated me by saying "no"!

However, I was on a shuttle some time later and sitting next to a Captain, so I asked him, and he thought it would be perfectly possible.

Badgerboy

1,793 posts

207 months

Monday 8th September 2008
quotequote all
Had a go in the Nimrod simulator when I was up at Kinloss for a bit. Great fun, the only thing that caught me out slightly was the height of the flare. I kept forgetting that the Nimrod is slightly higher up than the trainers that I was flying.

Of course, nothing beats then opening the throttles, and then trying to take the bugger under a bridge inverted. (Then getting kicked out for cocking about)

-crookedtail-

1,583 posts

205 months

Monday 8th September 2008
quotequote all
El stovey said:
Timmy35 said:
Wouldn't you just switch on the 'auto-landing' system in a modern airliner?

Ah ^^^ beaten too it.
How would you do that?
Isn't a lot of it done through the FMC anyhow? I used to mess around with a level D sim for a while and remember that much...

Don't we have any PH pilots?