I wonder if this guy was also a simmer:http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...ukzpCAD97HKDQG0

The article says the passenger was licensed to fly singe-engine planes, so he already knew the basics and just needed help with multi-engine turboprop operations.

The article says the passenger was licensed to fly singe-engine planes, so he already knew the basics and just needed help with multi-engine turboprop operations.

He knew the basics but still could have gotten this one wrong 1000 times. His only experience was in a lowly 172. I hope everyone realizes how huge a gap there is between 172 and a King Air. Speeds are vastly different, complexity, prop control, autopilot, etc. He could have easily stalled the airplane or plowed nose into the runway. And his experience in 172 totaled about 150 hrs - most of those hours flown over 20 years ago. He did an admirable job and the outcome was far from assured.

I don't question the enormous difference from a 172 to a King Air, but he certainly had a leg up on a person who had never flown in real life before.

I think he did a remarkable job.I've got the Aeroworx King Air for FS9 and I'm also a pilot in real life, but I've only flown smaller aircraft and I think that Aeroworx King Air is one of the hardest planes to fly in FS. By all accounts it is supposedly very like the real thing (at least as much as an FS plane can be). The first time I tried that Aeroworx King Air it scared the cr*p out of me, so god alone knows what it must have been like having to do that in real life. My hat is off to the guy.Al

but he certainly had a leg up on a person who had never flown in real life before.

You bet, no disagreement here.

There are the raw ATC recordings somewhere (dont have link in front of me) of the last 20 or so minutes before landing. ATC did a great job, along with the pilot!

Since the "passenger" in question is also the owner of the aircraft, it is possible that he may have been a bit more familiar with the aircraft having flown "right seat" previously...

http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/articles/2009...4pilotsave.html

Just listened to the audio of this incident, both he and the controller seemed remarkably calm, although it's apparent the guy was cautious about his ability to fly the aircraft, which is hardly surprising given that he stopped flying regularly as a pilot almost twenty years ago.As anyone who flies for real will know, it's bad enough on your nerves when you are well practiced and fly a new type for the first time! So I suspect that caution was probably a good thing when it came to not screwing around with the controls too much.By all accounts the landing was a greaser too, which is pretty cool. Nice to read about someone pulling that off for real, given that it's a regular topic on FS forums. He was very self deprecating about it all too. I bet if any of us sim regulars would have done something like that we wouldn't be so modest about it. :( Al

Yep, definitely cool heads working on this one.Greg

"Controllers at Miami Center and Ft. Myers Approach got a qualified King Air pilot on the telephone and relayed information to White telling him how to disengage the autopilot and fly the twin-engine turboprop." from the AOPA article in an above post's link.Let's not leave out that King Air Pilot. It was not just the ATC controllers and the pilot that pulled this remarkable incident off.Roger

I had an impression while listening to the radio recording that the controller was some kind of a pilot too. He showed a fairly good grasp of general knowledge what it takes to land an aircraft but certain King Air specific info came from another pilot.

WOW! Amazing recording. BZ to him

Would you happen to have the link now? I would love to hear it. Thanks. :( Roger