you're a passenger and the crew have become unconscious (food poisoning) and you're being asked to take over and land the real-life NG, since you're the only passenger that has many hours of flying the NGX in sim-life. Suppose you are indeed that extremely experienced flightsimmer. do you stand a chance. Conditions are normal, wheather conditions are perfect, ATC is very co-operative and you still have plenty of time before reaching TOD and you're familiar with the destination airport? So, how real is real?Please say yes. I'd like to believe it's all for a purpose, all this simming :)Or are we just fooling ourselves here ... or not anymore with the NGX going to be the sole exception and be this first true 'real-life' aircraft?

Myth busters did an episode on this and, assuming the guy could be talked down, he could land the plane.

Hi,If this was to happen in real life, I'm sure you would be talked through an autoland procedure.

Based on my experience in FSX you would crash... to desktop :(

Hi,If this was to happen in real life, I'm sure you would be talked through an autoland procedure.

I always believed this would be the safest and easiest way for an untrained person to land an aircraft. The way modern aircraft are built, and the systems they use, i imagine it's harder to get wrong than it is to get right.

I always believed this would be the safest and easiest way for an untrained person to land an aircraft. The way modern aircraft are built, and the systems they use, i imagine it's harder to get wrong than it is to get right.

If it was me and everything was set for an autoland and passing the FAF I would be soooooo tempted to disconnect the AP and handfly it down.

Hi Dazz,That's Funny.... :(

Based on my experience in FSX you would crash... to desktop :(

There was a corporate King Air 350 in the states a few years ago that went through this. The pilot had a massive heart attack and died in the cockpit. The owner of the plane came up to the cockpit and sat in the co-pilot's seat. He wasn't a pilot but he put on the headset and figured out how to make a radio call for help. The air traffic controller called a friend of his that was a King Air pilot and flight instructor and they talked him down to a safe landing. It's been featured on several television programs since. They played the recordings of the ATC tape and the owner sounds NERVOUS!!!! He was able to land safely and didn't even damage the plane. I have a couple of thousand hours in the Beech 1900D and a little time in the King Air 90. These are definately not the kind of airplanes you would want to attempt your first landing in while scared to death. They are great flying planes for experienced pilots. Turboprops are more complicated than jets though, and require more technique from the pilot. So if that guy got down in a 350, I have NO doubt that someone could be talked down in a 737.I used to wonder if all the flight simming would be beneficial when I learned to fly real planes and I most definately think it helped. Simming can do a great job at preparing you for the pace that things happen while flying. I know for a fact that I had an easier time learning turbine flying because of my simming as a kid and young adult. I also know first hand that when I apply airline style procedural flying to my simming for fun that things work out just as they should. So that validates that the sim matches the real world experience procedurally. The one thing that simming will never replace is the seat of the pants feeling. I've spent many hours in level D sims in training and they can't even really make up for the sensation of flight. There are so many tactile ques that youur senses take in in a real airplane that just can't be replicated. Until PMDG comes up for something that plugs into your ear and stimulates your inner ear!!!! I'm sure someone is already trying to think of how to do this. Maybe the inner ear stimulator will be part of the Wood Pigeon 1.1 service pack release!!! Hiram Hunt

There was a corporate King Air 350 in the states a few years ago that went through this. The pilot had a massive heart attack and died in the cockpit. The owner of the plane came up to the cockpit and sat in the co-pilot's seat. He wasn't a pilot but he put on the headset and figured out how to make a radio call for help. The air traffic controller called a friend of his that was a King Air pilot and flight instructor and they talked him down to a safe landing. It's been featured on several television programs since. They played the recordings of the ATC tape and the owner sounds NERVOUS!!!! He was able to land safely and didn't even damage the plane. I have a couple of thousand hours in the Beech 1900D and a little time in the King Air 90. These are definately not the kind of airplanes you would want to attempt your first landing in while scared to death. They are great flying planes for experienced pilots. Turboprops are more complicated than jets though, and require more technique from the pilot. So if that guy got down in a 350, I have NO doubt that someone could be talked down in a 737.I used to wonder if all the flight simming would be beneficial when I learned to fly real planes and I most definately think it helped. Simming can do a great job at preparing you for the pace that things happen while flying. I know for a fact that I had an easier time learning turbine flying because of my simming as a kid and young adult. I also know first hand that when I apply airline style procedural flying to my simming for fun that things work out just as they should. So that validates that the sim matches the real world experience procedurally. The one thing that simming will never replace is the seat of the pants feeling. I've spent many hours in level D sims in training and they can't even really make up for the sensation of flight. There are so many tactile ques that youur senses take in in a real airplane that just can't be replicated. Until PMDG comes up for something that plugs into your ear and stimulates your inner ear!!!! I'm sure someone is already trying to think of how to do this. Maybe the inner ear stimulator will be part of the Wood Pigeon 1.1 service pack release!!! Hiram Hunt

No so sure about that. King Airs are a pretty simple airplane. I think the jet takes a lot more technique than the turbines.JackColwill

No so sure about that. King Airs are a pretty simple airplane. I think the jet takes a lot more technique than the turbines.JackColwill

Well its more about engine management with the turbines - you can quite easily overcook an engine if you are not paying attention!

When I worked at ERAU we used to give tours of the A320 series FFS to tour groups. We once had middle-school classes come tour the school and we let each student take a ride in the A320 as PIC. A lot of these young kids who had never touched a sim, let alone a plane, managed to land the '320 at PHX just fine (with a little audible advice) and no control manipulation from us.While it is true a FFS is different from the real thing and we had them start on final approach, not at cruise with any failures, it's something to think about.

i'm not sure. I saw the Mythbusters Episode as well, but there was a type rated pilot on the mic. As far as i know Air Traffic Controller are not type rated on any plane. First of all a complete non-flyer would not find the Push to Talk Button :) If they're able to get a real pilot on the mic, it maybe works.

In the circumstances you say (which are unlikely of course), I reckon if the aircraft had full autoland capabilities and the airport was so equipped, and you were able to remain calm (not a small point), then you could almost certainly do it, since as long as you could work the radio, it would simply be a case of being told 'press this, push that' etc.There is actually a reasonably realistic portrayal of that scenario in the action movie 'Turbulence', where a flight attendant is talked through programming the FMC on a 747 by a pilot in another 747 on the ground who has been patched through to her by ATC. For movie trivia fans, this is in fact one of the few movies that featured a real airline too, in that the pilot talking her through it is depicted sitting in a Tower Air 747 where the airline's livery is plainly seen in several shots. The main aircraft in the movie was painted up in a fictional TransCon airlines livery, but that too was a Tower Air 747.It's a silly movie, but fun for Ray Liotta's wonderfully over the top performance as a serial killer, and worth checking out if you like 747s.Al

Well its more about engine management with the turbines - you can quite easily overcook an engine if you are not paying attention!

Below 6000 feet ASL you will be torquing out befre temping out. The pratts are more indestructable than you may think. We put them through a lot of abuse in training.As for th reference on using real airlines for movies, yeah I was surprised FedEx allowed the use of their name in Cast Away especially when the plot was about e airplane crashing.JackColwill

didnt I read somewhere that the Pilot and FO have diffrent meals to prevent food poisioning? or did I just dream it? And yes I think anyone who knows where the push to talk button is, could be talked down for an Autoland.