Flying a plane?

Question

hypathetical question. your a passanger on a twin engine corporate jet the pilot and co-pilot had fish for lunch and alas it was no good! they are teribly ill and can no longer fly the plane. You are not a pilot but have had some lessons, understand basic flight controls and instramentation. your in communication with the ground and they can provide verbal assistance.. Question what are the chances of landing the plane, wheels down and what are the chances of landing wheels up. Success is defined as walking away. an overwhelming success is the plane is intact and could fly with a skilled pilot at controls. please give odds for success

Answer 1

Chances are you would survive especially if you know how to lower the landing gear. Odds are you would land and walk away remember to put in 7700 on the transponder.

Answer 2

Here are some thoughts from the pilot of a corporate jet:  

The passengers on our jets have a strong chance of knowing their location in cruise, considering each seat has a screen with a moving map.  Since they see us wear headsets, they would most likely put the headset on, but probably would not find the push-to-talk switch.  In fact, they'd probably disengage the autopilot in the process.  The hand-mic on the control column is in plain view, so assuming they found that and used the headset to hear ATC, they'd have a good chance of getting attention and possibly help.

At the flight levels we cruise at cloud cover is virtually non existent, so the average person could manipulate the controls and get the aircraft to respond with some level of accuracy by looking out the window.  With some help from ATC, they could probably talk them down to an airport with a long runway and clear conditions.  The approach though, would be tough.

Slowing the plane down is easy, even configuring flaps and gear would be cake with someone talking you through it... the tough part is explaining how to trim for these configurations.  The control forces are going to be VERY high, at least on the aircraft I fly.  

At this point, the passenger probably hasn't even noticed the rudder pedals, and therefore may not be prepared to use the toe brakes to stop the aircraft.  Even if things go well, it's going to be a rough landing.  All in all, I think someone with a little training could do it, provided they had help from ATC.

A few years back a Cape Air pilot flying a Cessna 402 with a full load of passengers suffered some sort of heart attack in flight and a passenger took the airplane over.  The female passenger has some training and had her student pilots certificate.  She managed to recover control of the aircraft at 300' over the water (they were cruising at 1000' back from Nantucket) and land the plane safely gear up.  Why gear up up not sure, but everyone lived and she was hailed as a hero.  Fact is stranger than fiction!

Answer 3

You've been watching "Airplane"

Answer 4

Odds: Very good. About 99%+

If you understand basic flight controls and had some lessons, you'll probably be able to control the aircraft with some reasonable amount of control. Once you contact ATC, they can help you with all of the buttons and stuff, which is relatively easy to learn with someone telling you where they are.

The autopilot, if engaged, can pretty much do anything the passenger tells it to do, even land.

As long as the passenger has ATC  on the radio, they should be able to be talked down into landing. It may not be a perfect landing, but it should be a landing that wouldn't cause any major damge to the aircraft.

Learning to fly a large aircraft is not really difficult.

What's difficult is to having to know what all the numbers and buttons mean for aircraft preformance, and also the aviation regulations such as the ones for airspace.

Answer 5

Odds are very poor - 100 to 1 or worse. The first problem would be to get both of the pilots moved away from the flight controls while maintaining control of the aircraft.

From there on it doesn't get any better.

Answer 6

first the person in charge has to be level headed .keep his compusure under great stress.. he could land the plane if he had a little experience in that type.. other wise a flight instructor  on the ground could direct yo to a long strip like in atlantic city. and you probably would be ok.

Answer 7

i think they'd cancel the flight or find a different pilot, they usually have a second pilot on board the flight in case one gets ill or something.

Answer 8

I'd say about 40% chance the landing would be survivable. 20% chance the landing would be perfect. 40% chance you would turn the plane into a lawn dart.

Answer 9

If it is a modern airliner, and you are reasonably intelligent and can follow instructions over the radio, the chances of you being able to land safely are excellent.

In today's airliners, everything (almost) is automated.  The aircraft will typically be under computer control when the pilots get sick.  You can keep the aircraft under computer control right up to and including landing, so it isn't necessary to manipulate the flight controls.  With a bit of instruction over the radio from a qualified pilot, you can set up all the necessary stuff for an automated continuation to your destination and an automated landing.

This assumes that the aircraft itself has no problems, and that the weather is reasonably good.

The old notion that only an experienced pilot can help in this situation is badly outdated.  You'd actually have a better chance in an airliner (because of the heavy automation) than in a small aircraft (which you'd have to fly largely by hand—and that is difficult with no prior experience).

Answer 10

The odds are very good.

All aircraft landings are "controlled crashes".

If you have had some lessons, odds are you have handled all the instrumentation and may even have flown the plane with your instructor in the next seat.

Your verbal assistance from the ground, is much like your instructor in the next seat.  Additionally, you have 2 experienced pilots in the plane with you.  Just because they can no longer fly it, doesn't mean they can't be of assistance.

You said they were sick, you didn't say they were dead.

So I would say that your odds in favor of a wheels down, plane intact, walking away landing are about 95% favorable.

The "high time aviator" below doesn't think that 2 guys who are sick from eating bad food can't get themselves out of their seats?  They are neither dead, nor unconcious.

Answer 11

Hmm.  It is going to depend greatly on you confidence and ability to not panic. Until you are faced with an emergency in the air you honestly cant say how you will react.

Planes are for the most part dynamically stable I would say that your chances are pretty good of walking away IF you are given some time to orient yourself to the cockpit.  If you dont have time because of a lack of fuel or something like this I would say you chances are going down faster than the plane.

Airplanes are not terribly hard to land I would have to say if you had some time and confidence in your ability 80% walk away 50% flyable.

Answer 12

First, this aircraft would have autopilot, so getting the crew out of the way probably wouldn't be a problem.

The biggest obstacle, in my opinion, is the airport. The longer the runway the better. You can come in hot and not worry about stopping distance. If it has ILS, then the autopilot can be used to  get you pretty close to the ground if it has that capability, which it should.

The gear is but a lever, or handle. Pretty easy to drop it. If you have good assistance, then I'd say chances are pretty good, maybe 90%.

I've been working on avionics for 34 years, and I'm pretty certain I could land a small aircraft. I've flown a 172 and a T6, but never landed.