After watching the Mythbusters put this concept to the test and seeing the show "Surviving Disaster" which dealt with pretty much the same subject, I wanted to hear what everyone here thinks. You're a passenger on an aircraft and for whatever reason the pilot and co-pilot are killed or incapacitated. Whether the cause was a 9/11 style hijack, zombies, a death ray or food poisoning, it doesn't matter and we'll assume that it has been dealt with and you are now in the position of being aboard an aircraft with nobody on board who is qualified to fly it. Would you, with assistance from the ground, attempt to fly and land the aircraft? Why/Why not?
The Mythbusters tried it in a simulator with mixed results. With no assistance from the ground, they both crashed and burned. With support from a qualified instructor over the radio, both were able to land successfully and neither has any flight experience at all.
Personally, I'd definitely give it a shot if there was nobody else with more flight experience willing to try. I'm calm and collected in an emergency and I've had flight training in a Cessna 172 including flying approaches and landings. I've also spend hundreds of hours flying realistic flight simulators over the years. There's a big difference between flying a basic single engine trainer and flying a fully loaded jumbo jet but the principles of flight remain the same. I'm pretty confident that with help from the ground, I could probably put the plane on the ground in such a way that most, if not all, the passengers would survive. Besides that, in that scenario, nobody on the aircraft would have anything to lose. If nobody stepped up and at least tried, you would have a 100% certainty of dying. Even if I had only a 25% chance of succeeding, that would be a lot better than 0%.
[b]Discuss[/b].
I played Flight Simulator like a million times on easy so probably yeah
[B]EDIT:[/B]
But in all seriousness, I might be able to. You will die if you don't, so there's nothing to lose.
i have before
yes, I fly planes
[editline]er[/editline]
I meant I am a private pilot, like I have a license for sports and private without instruments.
if we're talking about landing a commercial jet, I would have a hard time (the glide slopes are ridiculously hard to get the feel for) seeing as I haven't worked with multi-engine behemoths. I'm used to touching down like a Cessna 182 in a 2,000 foot runway in a matter of hundreds of feet, not bringing a 747 or A340 down on a 6,000+ foot runway.
yes even though i have never seen a plane's cockpit or done anything with it
With help, sure. I'm good at video games.
I've landed one before (with directions and help but).
[b]Edit[/b]:
I don't know why I'm getting disagree ratings. My school offered a course where we got to fly a small plane with the help of an instructor.
Sure i just need to reverse the polarity of the wings and i'm set.
And to the people who think they can, understand that flight is one hundred times fucking harder than you think. flight simulator does [I]jack shit[/I]
Alone, no. With assistance, probably.
Yeah I guess I play FSX a lot I'd probably have like a 50% chance of landing properly and a 50% chance of bouncing off the airfield into the nearest building
I don't know if I'll be able to do it, but there's no point in not trying at all.
I don't know, I haven't tried.
LSK, why aren't you looking after the cat? O:
I love it when people make good threads that can promote DISCUSSION in the General Discussion section.
I couldn't land an airplane if you sat me down in the Pilot's seat a few miles from the Airport and said "Land this plane." -- I'd probably hit the ground way too hard, causing death and dying and loss of life and killing and making people dead.
But if you gave me help, I could likely do it. For the pilot, there is little actual work to be done; it's not as if you have to stand on your head while making coffee and using eight different joysticks to land a plane. The devices and the air traffic controllers do most of the work; you simply have to control the plane, really, which allows for a bit of error; if you push or pull a little too hard, the plane isn't going to implode, explode and implode again when you hit the runway.
But I'm a little girl, so I'd cry and run into the lavatory in fear anyway.
If Flightgear is at all accurate, I feel I stand a pretty good chance (besides the fact that I'd probably shit myself with fear)
Depends...
If it's a small one, most likely (With ground assistance and a [I]very long[/I] runway).
A commercial airplane? Hell on, but it would be fun.
Most likely not.
Albeit someone with alot of Microsoft flight simulator hours under his belt, should have no problems.
Without Help: Maybe, probably crashland.
With Help: Very possible, according to Mythbusters.
Personally, I'd be freaked out as shit, and I'm pretty sure that someone on the plane would have more experience.
I'd trust someone who knows how to drive over myself, because even that gives them an advantage. Although, I don't think I'd be seeing any cars in the air.
Maybe.
Assuming it wouldn't already be freaking me out with trillion lights flashing, PULL UP sounding every 3 seconds and having cockpit looking directly at the ground.
[quote]How hard can it be?[/quote]
:v:
If it was some tiny private plane, then just [i]maybe[/i]. But if it was some commercial airliner? Hell no, I'm no pilot, even landing a tiny plane would be damn challenging for me.
No, I wouldn't (be able to) do it, even if they will help me through some sort of radio. I bet there'll be some one else with either flight experience who doesn't mind risking everyone's life and I'll see him as a hero all my life, as long as I don't have to it.
[b]"Fly: Yes! Land: No!"[/b] -Indiana Jones
No D':
I would probably just crash and burn.
[QUOTE=green bandit;18972940]
Albeit someone with alot of Microsoft flight simulator hours under his belt, should have no problems.[/QUOTE]
You best be joking about that :clint:
I doubt it, but you never know. I'm really good under pressure, but I don't think I would be able to manage in that type of situation.
i can't even fucken land a plane in a game!
I would say yes, from films and from watching the mythbusters episode where they use a flight simulator.
Landing is the hardest part. I probably wouldn't be able to land on a runway, maybe a flat as hell field or a floatplane on a lake.
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