In case of an emergency mid air, can a normal passenger land a commercial plane.. ie a 747?

Question

In case of an emergency mid air, can a normal passenger land a commercial plane.. ie a 747?

Answer 1

in an emergency they can. you just better hope that person can learn fast

Answer 2

I've actually seen it done in a simulator, albeit on a 737. Given the right circumstances, plenty of time and fuel and a pilot qualified on that model to give detailed instructions from the "ground", it worked very well and was a fully successful landing albeit bumpy and with some blown tyres.

It was an official "one-off" experiment to prove that it is theoretically conceivable.  As far as I know it's not been repeated, at least not properly.

Answer 3

There was actually a Myth Busters episode on regarding a situation such as this.  They tested whether someone with NO experience with a plane could land a plane by being talked through the steps from the tower.

The conclusion was that it could be possible for this to happen, but would probably depend on the person.

http://mythbusters-wiki.discovery.com/pa...

Answer 4

Yes, he/she/it just has to remember that when the breaks are beating the boys, he/she/it needs to go out and win one for the Zipper.

Answer 5

yes they can land on their own by using autopilot

Answer 6

I think it would depend on your definition of "normal passenger."

After 22 years of dealing with passengers,  I would say that should this happen, I would be the first in line at the cockpit door. Most people cannot follow directions worth c**p!

Regards,

Dan

Answer 7

A "normal passenger"?

No.

I'm a commerical pilot, single engine, with 1500 hours expereince.  And a couple years ago I got to fly a 747-200 full motion simulator.

I tried to land the sim.

I was successful on the third landing attempt, and that was after a bit of coaching from the experts.  On my first two tries I didn't make it. The first one I was too high and had to go around, the second try I was not able to stop before the end of the runway.  The thrid try I managed to do it on the sim.

The fourth try the instructor through an engine out on me, and screwed up everything.

But now, as observed by the others- there is a locked security door that prevents passengers from even being able to try...

Answer 8

It would depend on the passenger, but most people could do this. It might not be the smoothest landing, and odds are they might not it stopped by the end of the runway, but they could get it on the ground in one piece.    People always over estimate the difficulty in handling an airplane.

Answer 9

A 747 can actually land itself on autopilot.

Answer 10

A normal passenger couldnt land a C-172 in an emergency.  Too much knowledge needed and lots of concepts to be applied at the right time.

Answer 11

Yes, but you can bet he'll crash

Answer 12

Any reasonably intelligent person with the ability to correctly follow instructions can land a large airliner these days, provided that the aircraft itself is in proper operating condition and that a qualified person (such as a pilot) can provide instructions over the radio. This is possible because modern airliners are so heavily automated that they can fly and land themselves with only minimal input from pilots.

Most airliners fly most of the time on autopilot, with the autopilot being controlled by a computer that knows all the details of the flight. The pilots simply monitor the computer's actions, and carry out various required procedures at various times during the flight, remaining ready to take over if anything goes wrong. The take-off is flown by hand, and landings are usually flown by hand as well, but the computer is capable of handing all phases of flight except take-off.

Thus, if an appropriate passenger finds himself in the cockpit after both pilots had the fish for dinner, he can land the aircraft, if someone can tell him what to do over the radio.  The only part of flying that requires practice is actual hand-flying of the airplane, but since everything is automated on an airliner, no hand-flying is required. The passenger need only push buttons and turn k***s in response to instructions from a pilot over the radio, and anyone can do this without any special practice.

In fact, a passenger is much more likely to land an airliner safely than he is to land a small aircraft safely.  Small aircraft often have little or no automation, and must be continuously hand-flown in most phases of flight. Hand-flying requires a lot of practice, and an inexperienced passenger would not be able to learn quickly enough to be able to manipulate the controls safely, at least for the crucial landing phase of the flight. So a passenger might end up crashing a tiny Cessna, whereas he might be able to land a 747 with no great difficulty.

Of course, all of this assumes that only the pilots are incapacitated, and that the aircraft itself is intact.  If there are failures of aircraft systems, it's unlikely that a normal passenger would be able to help much.  It would be extremely difficult to land a 747 by hand without any advance training, even with expert instruction over the radio. If any part of the autopilot is working, on the other hand, a safe landing is much more likely.  If all of the automation is working, the passenger can just configure the aircraft for autoland and it will land on its own, bringing itself safely to a stop on the runway.

Answer 13

The chances of a "normal" passenger being able to do it would be slim. If the person was a computer whiz, he could be talked through the steps to program the auto-land feature to land the plane. He would only need to know when to set the flaps and landing gear, because this is not automatic.

Answer 14

I can land any plane that was ever conceived or built. Unfortunately everyone on board will die as a result.

Answer 15

A PPL Holder could probably do the job but the cockpit door is locked and can only be opened from the pilots side.

Security says so.

Ian M

Answer 16

not a chance

Answer 17

Well I'm sure it can be done with some knowledge of airplanes, but if the person doesn't even know how to fly the plane in a normal situation, their chances of flying and landing it in an emergency situation are slim. There could be an engine not working, a control surface not working, loss of cabin pressure, damage to the aircraft, etc.  An emergency situation is hard enough for a trained pilot to handle let alone a clueless passenger.