I think your missing out not have any PMDG aircraft..I have all of them and i love that MD11 And i only fly PMDG aircraft. And as as getting the call up to the flightdeck we all dream of that. how does the story goes the they both have the bad curry and it all up to you. I just hope its not a airbus

Better an Airbus than nothing :(

I love these "I could fly that" debates. FS is funnily enough often considered to be better at IFR than VFR...One thing that simulation software can do is teach procedures. If the addon is complex enough, as PMDG aircraft are, you can often use the same flows and checklists as used in the real aircraft or full motion simulators. Armed with that experience, I would say an experienced FS user would certainly be able to hand fly and land something like the Boeing 737, assuming the aircraft is technically sound and the weather is not overly heavy. We all know that most commercial jets are multipilot environments, and the thought of having to control one of these single handedly in bad weather into an airport without a fully functioning ILS, cross winds near the limits for the airframe, and possibly some systems playing up, is not only the layman's nightmare.A large portion of commercial flight training is geared to dealing with extraordinary situations, engine out, systems failures, depressurizations, electrics, hydraulics failures, the list is almost endless. Many can "simply fly" planes (many of us non-pilots have had the odd lesson or two, or taken control with a CFI), though not so many develop those skills to fly and master all the other necessary and survival-important tasks nigh on simultaneously. The multitasking required of pilots, particularly these days in the crowded skies above us requires more than just being able to fly. Situational awareness, at all times, being able to deal with sudden events, while retaining situational awareness, maintaining control in all situations... dealing with high density traffic situations in 3D, unlike a busy highway...Those two/three men and women up front earn my utmost respect, every time I board an aircraft, however large or small it is. My interest in flight and flight simulation has only enhanced my respect of them, as the training never ends...I look forward to spending some time in the Lufthansa Flight Training MD11 simulator hopefully this summer. I will get a look into a world I have only really been able to experience so far within the realms of FS...Andrew

For your sake and everone elses I hope that it never happens.If for some reason it ever does and your headed for Rio, please dont attempt 02L or 02R at Santos Dumont or you will surely kill yourself and everyone else. :( Head to SBGL and at least give yourself a chance at survival. :( Sean Campbell

I know that. SBRJ would be my last option. I'd prefer to land in Congonhas. The runway there is very short, but at least they have ILS. Even in FSX I have some hard time landing in SBRJ. It's true that with the MD-11 we won't get the best results, so I'll practice approaches in Santos Dumont, especially traffic patterns, when the NGX arrive.

Personally I am quite certain that despite feeling totally comfortable controlling my advanced airplanes - LevelD, MD11, 747, Maddog, Fokker 70/100 et al - from the coziness of my armchair, if I would find myself in the cockpit realizing I was responsible for probably hundreds of lives and probably having only one go at landing, my brain would freeze, I'd get tunnel vision and forget everything I've learnt. Autoland or not.

This discussion comes up often, (it seems once every 6-9 months on average!), here's my take on it.If you have a PMDG product and have learned how to operate it properly, and understand the systems, then you have a good chance of getting it down safely. The key things you have on your side are:- Knowing where the radios are and how to tune them to ask for help- Knowing how to operate the aircraft using the autopilot- Knowing how and when to operate the essential controls, gear, flaps, etcIf you ever found yourself in this fantasy situation, the smartest thing you could do would be to get vectors to a suitably equipped ILS approach and then autoland it. You probably know the systems well enough to do all this, but at the end of the day a joystick and throttle arrangement isn't adequate preparation for the handling nuances of the real thing. The tactile feedback, and (on Boeings) the whole control arrangment is completely different.My first level-D airliner sim experience showed me that I didn't know nearly as much about the handling as I thought I did in the first instance. I was able to operate the aircraft quite happily but my first two landings were absolute crappers. Once I had some advice on technique it improved to a point where I was told that the landing was 'pretty good', but in the often-discussed fantasy scenario, you only get one chance to do it right, and I'm betting you'd need a bit more practice than that!

I was wondering too what will be the difference.Wich steps aren't described in the tutorials and the checklist that real pilots do, know and execute wich aren't possibe in a simulateror ( not the feeling that is clear!)What is not simulated? (In the better simulator like LVLD and PMDG)Clearly I'm not telling I can fly a plane, like cardriving it needs a lot of practice in the real world. But I realy like to know the steps not described in the checklist and the tutorials. etc RegardsEric

Personally I am quite certain that despite feeling totally comfortable controlling my advanced airplanes - LevelD, MD11, 747, Maddog, Fokker 70/100 et al - from the coziness of my armchair, if I would find myself in the cockpit realizing I was responsible for probably hundreds of lives and probably having only one go at landing, my brain would freeze, I'd get tunnel vision and forget everything I've learnt. Autoland or not.

+1 :( Eric

As many have said before I think autoland would be the only sound option, if there was the support for it at the airport. If I tried a manual landing there is a big chance we would crash, with me in the last seconds, frantically scratching a screw on the left side of the MCP, trying to go around ;)

Oh fantasy... :( I dream with the day that I'd be in a 737 for example and the pilots would have a heart attack or something (I'm not saying that I'd like the pilots to die or pass out during the flight) and I would be the only one who knew how to operate the aircraft and would save the plane and the life of the other passengers and crew members. I know that the chances are incredibly low, but everybody can dream, right?:(

I wouldn't want to call it "... chances are incredibly low, ...." but fortunately "... the risk is incredibly low, ....."

Personally I am quite certain that despite feeling totally comfortable controlling my advanced airplanes - LevelD, MD11, 747, Maddog, Fokker 70/100 et al - from the coziness of my armchair, if I would find myself in the cockpit realizing I was responsible for probably hundreds of lives and probably having only one go at landing, my brain would freeze, I'd get tunnel vision and forget everything I've learnt. Autoland or not.

Yes, my brain would probably freeze too, but hopefully - even if both pilots were out - some of the flight attendants would still be up and running and could serve me a whiskey or two... :(

Yes, my brain would probably freeze too, but hopefully - even if both pilots were out - some of the flight attendants would still be up and running and could serve me a whiskey or two... :(

What about this: Put a hot woman on the runway you're trying to land on. I'm sure that would make it much easier to get the plane to the runway. Braking would also be easy because you don't want to hit her. :(

I think that in an ipotetical heart attack a serious simmer that know the aircraft should do this:1) If the plane is in cruise it should be in autopilot mode if not it should stabilize the aircraft with it and immediatly enter 7700 squawk2) After this call an emergency at radio someone should respond the problem was not how to tune the radio but how to use because is not simulated.3) After the radio contact a pilot should guide the simmer to the nearest and safest airport i don't think that it would be guided into bad wheater etc...4) The simmer should immediatly call a beautiful hostess as coopilot as last desire :( this is the funny part :D don't consider it.5) If the flight is not a transoceanic is sure that there is an ils runway aviable near you and all traffic around you will be redirected.6) The simmer should be able to tune radio and managing autopilot and the use of flap etc should be guided by radio monitoring the air speed.7) The most difficult part is the final landing that could result in an hard touch down with the possibility of tire explosion :( or a stall but in good wheater conditions the most of modern aircraft are able to do a full autolanding.Personally i have flight hours in real Cessna and thousands in the simulated version of many Airbus and Boeing but the prospective to manual take control of a biggest jet aircraft in final landing without possibility of error is not very funny.Fear could be a bonus or a malus, in this case you are not ar your home with a cola in front a monitor, you are trying to take landing and airSo i think that chance that a brave and well prepared simmer could save the plane are 50 & 50.

You are SO negitive. I don't see why he would not be able to land the plane using the auto pilot. Nobody is saying just flying in FSX qualifies you to hop in a 737 full of passengers and take off. There is a major difference in having just enough knowledge from FSX to keep the plane from becoming a lawn dart long enough to turn on the autopilot and being a RW airline pilot that can handle and has been trained in all situations and can fly the plane smooth and safe.. BUT I do have to say while every flight simmer has dreamed of landing a real airliner No way IN HELL would I want to be in that scenerio in real life, Fear would make a hand landing even in perfect conditions highly unlikely to go well so auto land would have to be used. At first I posted that he might be able to hand fly a landing too but then I thought about it and the reason a hand flown landing would probably result in a crash even on a nice clear day is FEAR even if you could get used to the controls in time the fear of just being thrust into the situation and not having a experienced pilot there to guide you or take over would cause you to crash. Chris you seem to think that FSX is some horribly unrealistic arcade game and it is not, sure you can make it arcade like if you turn all the settings down and fly default planes but with good payware planes it's a pretty decent simulation. I too am one of the lucky ones that got to use a full motion simulator and I was able to land on my first try, was not perfect and I would not want to have been a passenger on it but I got it down first try and did better on the two other landings I got to do. But as I said above in a RW situation with no experienced help... very very unlikely that plane would have landed in one peice. and god forbid a engine failed or something like that the only question would be what part of the plane hit the ground first one thing I know He would have a better chance in a 737 than in a cessna that is for sure.

Notice the :('s, while I can be negative ( why can't I be? I like to use all my human emotions ) there is an element of bemusement with such topics and I can't help myself. FSX seems lacking for me......and yes, I have it all on full reality settings with payware AC and hardware....but please don't tell me what I'm thinking - Thanks.Chris Farrell

Yeah, and you'd probably crash because FSX is not based on reality.....nice fantasy though. We've all had the delusion.:(

I guess you don't watch Mythbusters.

I don't think anything I'm about to add hasn't already been said, but I'll say it anyway. First off, I've never had the opportunity to pilot a real plane, so I'm not here to say what's easy or hard, or is FSX is realistic. I think everyone has ran through the "pilots have heart attack and you're the only one remotely knowledgable to land this plane scenario." Could a person who plays flight simulator land a real plane? Probably not. A person who immerses themselves in flight simulator might be able to do a decent enough job. Before I started making flights in FS, I would have had no idea about any aircraft systems, location of instruments, "what does this button do?", etc. "Does this put down the landing gear?" "No, that's flaps" "Flaps... hmm... let's dive at the runway at about 200mph because planes go fast right? we'll pull the flap lever all the way down")I digress... my point is someone who has learned the processes and features (albeit limited) of the aircraft will have a better chance than someone who hasn't. I don't think anyone would argue that a person could do 1000+ flights on FS and then be ready to do daily flights with an airline. FS experience won't teach you what every button on the aircraft does, but the basic knowledge could be the difference between overshooting a runway with 150 survivors, or hitting the side of a mountain with 0 survivors.All hypothetical, of course.EDIT: I will add that if the aircraft had a failure, any FS'er would be hooped.

I'd prefer to land in Congonhas. The runway there is very short, but at least they have ILS. Even in FSX I have some hard time landing in SBRJ. It's true that with the MD-11 we won't get the best results, so I'll practice approaches in Santos Dumont, especially traffic patterns, when the NGX arrive.

I'd go for Galeão so you have a better chance of not going off the end of the runway. :(

As many have said before I think autoland would be the only sound option, if there was the support for it at the airport. If I tried a manual landing there is a big chance we would crash, with me in the last seconds, frantically scratching a screw on the left side of the MCP, trying to go around ;)

Good One,Most of us RW pilots will admit to using FS for training purposes, much as we hate the "I did it on my computer, so I can do it in real life attitude" FSX helps. Certainly when it comes to IFR flying it teaches you to rely on your instruments and to trust them but its pathetically poor when it comes to VFR or anything tactile. Nowadays, flying has become much more of a management job than actually hands on flying , and certainly I would trust an FSX pilot to help me in th CP with checklists and the like, but if you asked me in an emergency would I put my sons or daughters hands in their life, I can safely say I wouldn't, better than no experience but almost as good as...

Hi,I've been flying a real 737 Sim in Berlin last year.It was about 50€ for 1 hour (Normally it would cost about 170 if i remember correctly, but because we were there as VA and we got many guys who wanted to fly we got this discount. Also I think that we got a sponsor for that who payed a little money).From my knowledge I can say that you can learn how to land the airplane if the pilots aren't able to (whyever this might be), but that's it. For becoming an airlinepilot it's not good enough.Also I am about to become a glider pilot. In this point I can only repeat what I said above. FSX is good for general knowledge on the plane and how to operate the different systems, but not for practical training.

You got a great deal there!!!...Chris Farrell