I think Victor explained a lot better what I was trying to explain **smiles** Hear hear!

Thanks both to Vala and Christopher for the support. I don't mean to diminsh any simpilots here. As a matter of fact I think there are simmers here who probably can fly the 737 way better than I can! After all what do I know, I'm only a single engine GA man ;) Regarding my metaphor: actually I think simming is closer to real flying than masturbation is to sex. But that's a whole 'nother story... :)Best Regards,Victorhttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/800driver.jpg

>You wait to see if anyone presses before you do anything. A>minute passes, and another announcemnt is made. You start to>sweat and think to yourself, "Can I land this plane?"Nooo problem... just give me the columnnn. Iiii'll land it for ya! Now, where did that stewardess go with my drink!?/sebastian

>Thanks both to Vala and Christopher for the support. I don't>mean to diminsh any simpilots here. As a matter of fact I>think there are simmers here who probably can fly the 737 way>better than I can! After all what do I know, I'm only a single>engine GA man ;) Regarding my metaphor: actually I think>simming is closer to real flying than masturbation is to sex.>But that's a whole 'nother story... :)>>Best Regards,>Victor>>>>http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/800driver.jpgMaster-who? Never heard of this . . . **chuckles**

>>You wait to see if anyone presses before you do anything. A>>minute passes, and another announcemnt is made. You start to>>sweat and think to yourself, "Can I land this plane?">>Nooo problem... just give me the columnnn. Iiii'll land it for>ya! Now, where did that stewardess go with my drink!?>>/sebastian**hic** Yeah I bet the law would love that **hic** one **stumbles and falls over himself**Good one Heheheh.

All i have to say is those must have been some NASTY peanuts...But i would give it a go just point me to an airport with catIII and good weather.. some chance is better than none...Russell G

Sure Russell, you can have it! But the problem is that the simmers here wont be convinced with that! They want to hand fly the airplane!-Vala

**chuckles** Naw I just didnt want to take out the VASI. Something about colliding with that thing makes me nervous.

Donny AKA ShalomarFly 2 ROCKS!!!It might not be a good example, but the 9/11 folks used a 767 addon for MSFS then successfully navigated hundreds of miles in planes they had never actually flown, disabling the transponders on the way... Mark Twain once wrote that the man who has had a bull by the tail knows a few things that the man who hasn't doesn't. A simmer would have a better chance of completing an autoland than someone with absolutely no aviation knoweledge, or at least getting controlled flight down to 200 AGL. The avionics capabilities of airliners differs, and who says you would be flying an aircraft in your inventory or one that even HAS autoland capability? IF such an unlikely event occurs, and a simmer brings the plane to a stop upright on Terra Firma, forget taxiing, either hit the slides or wait for help to arrive via airstair. But it's not just simmers that have these thoughts, even low time GA pilots wonder if they could rise to the occasion if an "Airplane" (remember that movie?) scenario hits.Best Regards, Donny:-wave

Well hopefully I'll be on an airplane that is equipped with autoland ! And as much as I dont want to hand fly the airplane, I do want to fly the airplane, and of course I've thought of that before... who hasn't ;)But I would always go with the safest way... if I didn't get to hand fly the airplane on that emergency, its ok, I'll do it next time :D .Vala

So guys, I'm done doing what I had to do for today and VATSIM isn't servicing any locations I'd like to fly to tonight so I came up with a new scenario so we can continue writing ridiculous stupidities in this useless (otherwise funny - well I hope) thread.So for those of you who followed the first "Is there a pilot on board" topic, read on and reply what would you do if the following happened...------------------------------------------------------------------------You are Mr. X, one of the few select civilians to ever be called upon to ride the STS, otherwise known to all non-geeks as the Space Shuttle. That's right, you are a world renown Chef who has been called upon as mission specialist for mission STS-155 where you will try to reproduce in space the exquisite taste of the French cuisine and test it on human subjects! So in the cold dawn of April 26, 2005 you find yourself in launch pad 3A of the Kennedy Space Center sitting on a not-so-comfortable chair on top of a couple million liters of solid rocket fuel. Birds are singing, crocodiles are waking up and people are cheering as a deceptively soothing female voice counts down to the greatest combustion of fuel ever known to man. So it goes that Space Shuttle Atlantis takes-off uneventfully at 6:07AM and a couple seconds later is given the throttles-up from Launch Control. Finally after separating from the SRBs and ET it completes it's orbital maneuvering sequence to start orbiting mother Earth at an altitude of some 400km (FL12000 for all you aviation dudes. Now imagine reporting that to Center:

Donny AKA ShalomarFly 2 ROCKS!!!NOW you're getting a little far out! Buran was launched by the former Soviet Union unmanned on the first mission, I seem to remember hearing that an autoland capability had been developed for our shuttles years later. The Soviet automation weighed tons.Back to the original scenario: Someone mentioned if a crew is incapacitated the flight deck could be a mess. The most likely scenario I thought (other than criminal activity) of was a bird strike thru the windshield with an Eagle or Albatross, they have been known to soar up into the early 20's. This would most likely happen during climb or descent, either you would have a lot of fuel to deal with or an unexpected early arrival at less efficient altitudes. Of course for anyone to have a chance at least one crewman must be functional long enough to get down to breathable air, depending how high the bird strike happened. The wind chill factor would make you wish you were at a cozy computer station with your PMDG product, not to mention the panel might have been pelted with flying debris from the cabin if it decompressed. But, even if the flight were short enough (less than X hours?) for there not to be a relief crew, chances are high there is at least one pilot on the way to his vacation or catching a ride to connect with a flight they are a crew member on. The chances a simmer would take the controls is slim. The FA's and passengers, rightly or wrongly, would prefer a real world Piper Archer pilot to someone who has intimately studied systems and flown that particular aircraft for a thousand hours on a P.C.Best Regards, Donny:-wave

hmm, hmm.AFAIK each member of a shuttle crew needs to be checked out on at least the basics of the duties of all other members so I'd have at least some simulator time on the thing (and that a FMS) and possibly one or two landings in the specially equipped aircraft NASA has for training purposes.I do think however the chimp would be a better bet ;) :-lol

I dont think I would be able to get the Space shuttle back into earth's atmosphere. Ive never seen the moon up close so maybe a little sight seeing before the inevitable?

Okay I am good to go on the 737, but when it comes to the shuttle -- I surrender. I'll bloody stay in orbit and hope for the rescue.