"Is There a Pilot On Board?"

[Guest cplasch]

lol... My wife and I were having this very conversation two nights ago, when she asked after spending all this time learning the 737 if I feel I could "take over" in a crisis. From a systems standpoint- sure, probably, with some guidance. From a flying standpoint- I don't know. I have around 20 hours in a private- never touched the controls on a heavy. But I guess if the choice came between sitting in my chair and having a 0% chance of surviving, versus taking the controls and having a 1% chance of surviving, then I choose 1%.Would I like the chance to try it? ABSOLUTELY, but not under those circumstances- Lets just hope it never comes to that for ANY of us! :) I sit pretty comfortably in my passenger seat knowing there's two highly-qualified individuals at the controls.Happy flying,Chris

[Guest WomBat151]

I think that we -PMDG die-hards- would be able to at least make a safe autolanding. We will keep our nerves under control, and the controllers will be amazed when they hear us requesting clearance to taxi to the gate after landing :)Just kiddingCheers,Ian Udingahttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/800driver.jpg

[Guest]

>We will keep our nerves under control, and the controllers>will be amazed when they hear us requesting clearance to taxi>to the gate after landing :)yes, because they wouldn't have expected us to land the aircraft in a condition it could still taxi :-lol

[Guest FattyBear]

You guys are insane.

[victorlima01 4]

Yes we are. Care to join on the fun? :) I personally think we could probably get the plane down in autoland not hurting anyone granted the weather is fine and we were given a long runway with a simple straight approach. Well, we'd do better than anyone else onboard anyway. So if I were in that situation I'd be the first one with my hand raised because maybe the next guy to raise his hand is just some overconfident guy who has flown the default 737 in Flight Simulator and who's got more guts than the rest and some unconscious wish to be a hero who thinks that he can do it because he has heard so many people say that Flight Simulator is "As Real as i gets". I'm not cocky nor am I a real airline pilot; but I'm a private pilot who is confident that other than the real 737 drivers/mechanics/engineers or whatever, there are very few men or women out there who know so much about flying this airplane as we do. Any real 737 pilots please correct me if I am wrong on this assessment. I just don't think we would be able to taxi it to the gate since there is no automation involved in that procedure to aid us. But it sure would be nice to see the looks on the faces of the next real pilots to board the aircraft to make sure everything was fine when they saw that we had started the apu, turned off the engines and set-up the aircraft for parking. :)Regards,Victorhttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/800driver.jpg

[Guest G. Stone]

I have seen this question raised before but I have to admit every time I see it I can only smile thinking of the possibilities. If I were in that situation I would definitely go for the controls if no other experienced pilots were available.I look at it this way..I have landed the PSS A320, PMDG 737, LDS 767, and most importantly the default FS9 747 :-) what do I have to loseI was kidding about the 747...

[Guest FattyBear]

I think you guys acutally wouldn't mind the pilots being incapicated, even jumping for joy as you hop your way up to the cockpit, making a perfect autoland with the passengers clapping. Luckily there just happend to be an all-blonde Swedish Bikini team in the back, just itching to let you whisk them off to the local Motel 6 for some "gratitude". Little do you realize that it was all just a dream and the chances of a flight simulator enthusiast being able to land an airplane, never the less a 737 with 130 passengers in the back and on your mind are slim to none.

[Guest tmetzinger]

>Little do you realize that it was all just a dream and the>chances of a flight simulator enthusiast being able to land an>airplane, never the less a 737 with 130 passengers in the back>and on your mind are slim to none. >>Alex, you are wrong. Period.I've watched flight simmers with zero "real" flight time successfully fly LOFT scenarios in real (level D) simulators for 737 and 777 models.I've seen student pilots, with less than 20 hours of real flight training successfully land 737 sims after being talked through the approach configuration (airspeed, fuel flow, flaps, gear) with no autopilot at all.While I'd much rather have a certificated, type rated airman at the controls - someone who's practiced a lot with the PMDG would have a very good shot at successfully landing a real NG, given decent weather and lots of assistance and guidance on the radio (which goes a long way to relieve the pressure of those 130 souls in the back). Sure would beat the much higher chance of dying if just any yahoo tried to land it.

[Guest]

>I think you guys acutally wouldn't mind the pilots being>incapicated, even jumping for joy as you hop your way up towrong. We'd not want to do it at all (certainly not under those conditions, I think we're all dreaming of a chance to try a real aircraft at some point but not in an emergency and certainly not with the lives of hundreds becoming our responsibility if we mess up).If you read more carefully you'll see that many of us state we're more likely to pull off a landing than most people who've never used this product and aren't pilots in real life, nothing more or less, and that we'd rather give it a try than wait patiently to crash and burn.>>Little do you realize that it was all just a dream and the>chances of a flight simulator enthusiast being able to land an>airplane, never the less a 737 with 130 passengers in the back>and on your mind are slim to none. >>I've done 1 flight in a real aircraft (trial lesson), a 20+ year old C172M.The instructor let me do everything except drive out of the parking lot, and that only because we were too close for comfort to other Cessnas.I pulled off a near perfect landing, marred only by the typical FS move of applying brakes just after touchdown (which in FS is needed because the runways have less friction than real ones and as a result you need to brake more to slow down).I've never piloted a real aircraft, nor a full motion sim, before or since.I'm not claiming I can do the same again, and certainly not a 737, but it can be done and FS experience might help a bit (it will certainly help to know where the most important switches are and what they are supposed to do).

[Jeff Nielsen 1,386]

Let's see if I can do it:http://www.onlinesimulationsolutions.com/k.../heavymetal.wmv http://www.onlinesimulationsolutions.com/k...heavymetal2.wmv

[Guest MD11_FLYER]

You guys are dreamers. Unless you are a certified pilot they F/As won't let you touch the controls. Secondly, computer is way different from the real thing and I can bet none of you could manually land a 737. Period!

[Guest canyonblue737]

> You guys are dreamers. Unless you are a certified pilot>they F/As won't let you touch the controls. Secondly, computer>is way different from the real thing and I can bet none of you>could manually land a 737. Period!can someone adept at PMDG step up and do an autoland in the real deal. YOU BET. can someone who has hand flown the PMDG 737 sim and even done a landing or two in a real Level D sim (but not a real pilot, or with only experience in light aircraft) land it by hand... as someone who flies the real deal, i would have to say almost no chance. There is a significant feel difference in real life even when compared to the Level D which often is set for glass smooth, no shear flight. the reality is lets hope such a day never comes!

[Guest tomahawk_pa38]

Just to add my thoughts having done a fair bit of flying recently. Flying per se in good weather with a fully fit aircraft is by no means difficult. What is difficult, is flying with the right degree of safety margins especially when you have to navigate, communicate etc all at once!So quite probably, you would get it on the ground in one piece weather permitting - it may not be very gentle and you might get a few complaints from the pax, but you'd probably survive it. Chances are though - your safety margins would be very tight compared witha professional pilot.PS Taxying is a different ball game when you don't have nose wheel steering - now that is tricky !!

[UKflyer 630]

Interesting scenario, needless to say it's been said before :-hahAnyways. I got a simulator ride 3 years ago as a birthday present. It was a 737-400. So i got going on my dreamfleet 737 on flightsim. I knew most of the systems anyway and the Boeing ethos. I had a small briefing and was shown all the controls before i took the left hand seat. Let me tell you, that flying a 737 in FS is no where near as complicated as flying a 737 full-motion sim. Don't forget that you have all the lateral and longitudinal g-forces and very accurate flight dynamics which differ somewhat in FS. OK, there are similarities, such as the position of all the switches etc, but flying the plane is very different. Pilots say that if you can fly the simulator well then the real aircraft is not any more difficult. But flying a full-motion sim and FS are worlds apart!!Cheers

[Guest tmetzinger]

> You guys are dreamers. Unless you are a certified pilot>they F/As won't let you touch the controls. Secondly, computer>is way different from the real thing and I can bet none of you>could manually land a 737. Period!I'll stand by my comments, and if I change my mind as I get more reak experience in NG's I'll "revise and extend" (as our legislators say).