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Can anyone land the plane?

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On 25 March 2018 at 4:02 AM, cmpbellsjc said:

Do you know how many times this question has been posted on Avsim? About as often as some one asks “What’s the best AI package?”

The same conclusion is drawn every time. 

Well, with respect, it's a question that's going to be asked a lot - ON A FLIGHT SIMULATOR FORUM!

To the OP - why not give a Level D sim of your favourite airliner a go. Sim instructors are a clever bunch so tell him what you're trying to do and what hours you have in FSX/P3D and ask him to dial in a little weather, etc. Tell him not to give you any surprises (Eng out, fuel, fire, etc) as that's unfair. Pilots generally report the sim to be a little tougher to fly than the real thing.

 

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On 3/26/2018 at 12:05 PM, W2DR said:

I honestly don't know. I do know that a few years back I was lucky enough to get a shot at a 737-700 Level-D at the Southwest training center and I was able to get off the ground at LAX, circle over the San Fernando valley, and land it back at LAX with no assistance.  But, (there is always one of those) I have no idea what would happen in RL when the pressure was on. Given some ATC input on an ILS approach... maybe. Left to my own devices...probably a slim chance.........Doug

Some people, especially those with flight experience carrying a passenger like a CFI, which I have, can somewhat tune out the pressure.  One must remember that a pilot of a GA aircraft or an experienced sim pilot would have his or her life on the line in addition to the other passengers.  Plus the "hero" factor can kick in and add extra and needed adrenaline to get the job done.  The situation would also depend on where ATC directed you to land.  If there were crosswinds present things would be greatly complicated as I learned taking flight lessons, crosswinds cause challenges especially if their direction is variable, vs. a steady crosswind.  I was taught not to "dance on the rudder pedals" but to tread lightly due to stresses on the airframe and/or causing excessive drag on the airframe causing the descent rate to increase and causing a possible missing of the runway threshold.  I was taught to come in with as little throttle as possible in case of a last minute engine malfunction which would be a risk decreased in a multiengine jet aircraft.  Quite often coming into final on commercial I could hear the pilot jockeying the throttle sometimes causing us to land well down the runway.  But with modern brakes and reverse thrust on an airliner things still come to a stop.  My inbound 747-400 flight from London last summer, on a 110 degree day, had no problem landing despite the high density altitude in Phoenix that day.  However had it been full of fuel the story would have been different.

John

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8 hours ago, ganter said:

Well, with respect, it's a question that's going to be asked a lot - ON A FLIGHT SIMULATOR FORUM!

That’s kind of the point I was trying to make. Why keep asking and discussing the same topic over and over, when there is no hard fact resolution. It’s a situation that most likely will never arise (hopefully) and there is no way to give a concrete answer. Some say yes its possible and some say no, but given the variables involved there isn’t really any way to come to a factual conclusion. 

I might be able to pull it off because I have real world PIC time/experience and tons of sim time in multiple airliner types, but I sure as heck wouldn’t want to be put in the position to try with passengers on board. 

Having said that, if the situation were to arise, I’d at least want a simmer or PPL up front who might at least have a chance to be talked down rather than some average Joe who hasn’t flown anything be it real or in a sim.


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6 hours ago, cmpbellsjc said:

That’s kind of the point I was trying to make. Why keep asking and discussing the same topic over and over, when there is no hard fact resolution. It’s a situation that most likely will never arise (hopefully) and there is no way to give a concrete answer. Some say yes its possible and some say no, but given the variables involved there isn’t really any way to come to a factual conclusion. 

I might be able to pull it off because I have real world PIC time/experience and tons of sim time in multiple airliner types, but I sure as heck wouldn’t want to be put in the position to try with passengers on board. 

Having said that, if the situation were to arise, I’d at least want a simmer or PPL up front who might at least have a chance to be talked down rather than some average Joe who hasn’t flown anything be it real or in a sim.

Agreed. But it is a different set of people discussing each time it comes up.

The first time I flew RW (Piper Warrior II) I was immediately side swiped by the fact that I was the one moving and the world was stationary. This is the polar opposite of the sim - where the screen image is racing towards you and you're stationary! It felt very strange but it soon passed. 

With big metal - I don't know. I have, like a you a few hundred hours (simulated) on  the 737 NGX, A320x and T7.

If I had a choice I'd opt for the scenario to occur on the 737. I have the most hours of my airliner hours on that and I want that yoke in my hands instead of that silly side stick nonsense.

I think if this DID happen to any of us - we wouldn't have time to think about whether we could do it or not.  By the time the pilots are out the picture, the FA has screamed "Can anyone fly an aeroplane?", etc, etc.  the option to have a think about things has long expired and the hand would have go up.

I think most of us here would have a bl**dy good go at getting the crate back on the ground in one piece. I'd be telling myself constantly..."slow down...just fly it like it's in the sim..."

This is why I try and encourage the children of the magenta line here to learn to hand fly the big iron...because you never know ;-)

 

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9 hours ago, ganter said:

Agreed. But it is a different set of people discussing each time it comes up.

The first time I flew RW (Piper Warrior II) I was immediately side swiped by the fact that I was the one moving and the world was stationary. This is the polar opposite of the sim - where the screen image is racing towards you and you're stationary! It felt very strange but it soon passed. 

With big metal - I don't know. I have, like a you a few hundred hours (simulated) on  the 737 NGX, A320x and T7.

If I had a choice I'd opt for the scenario to occur on the 737. I have the most hours of my airliner hours on that and I want that yoke in my hands instead of that silly side stick nonsense.

I think if this DID happen to any of us - we wouldn't have time to think about whether we could do it or not.  By the time the pilots are out the picture, the FA has screamed "Can anyone fly an aeroplane?", etc, etc.  the option to have a think about things has long expired and the hand would have go up.

I think most of us here would have a bl**dy good go at getting the crate back on the ground in one piece. I'd be telling myself constantly..."slow down...just fly it like it's in the sim..."

This is why I try and encourage the children of the magenta line here to learn to hand fly the big iron...because you never know ;-)

 

The one thing about simming vs real life flying is that from a control stand point, hand flying an aircraft is easier in real life than in the sim. I haven’t hand flown a real airliner but would image it’s easier to hand fly in real life than it is in the sim as well. It would just be a big difference in control feel and actually sitting in a cockpit rather than mouse clicking switches.

When I was about 30 hours into my PPL training my flight instructor was rooming with an F-4 pilot in the Wild Weasel Squadron based out of George AFB. She called me one day and said she could get us 2 hours of sim time in the F-4 and wanted to know if I wanted to go fly it. Long story short, it was so much different from the desk top sim that it took a little time to get used to, namely the feel of the real controls. Funny enough, I was able to successfully fly the pattern and land 8 times successfully while my flight instructor crashed 3 of her 8 attempts, lol.

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14 minutes ago, cmpbellsjc said:

The one thing about simming vs real life flying is that from a control stand point, hand flying an aircraft is easier in real life than in the sim. I haven’t hand flown a real airliner but would image it’s easier to hand fly in real life than it is in the sim as well. It would just be a big difference in control feel and actually sitting in a cockpit rather than mouse clicking switches.

When I was about 30 hours into my PPL training my flight instructor was rooming with an F-4 pilot in the Wild Weasel Squadron based out of George AFB. She called me one day and said she could get us 2 hours of sim time in the F-4 and wanted to know if I wanted to go fly it. Long story short, it was so much different from the desk top sim that it took a little time to get used to, namely the feel of the real controls. Funny enough, I was able to successfully fly the pattern and land 8 times successfully while my flight instructor crashed 3 of her 8 attempts, lol.

Certainly, I agree. I use the Justflight Warrior to run pattern work and checklist reminders a day or so before my rw lesson. I find the real thing easier (and nicer!) to fly, trimming correctly is, as you will know immensely satisfying when the aircraft plops into correct trim.

Your F-4 story reminds me of when I got the SSW Harrier AV-8B and the following rw lesson whilst on final I quietly remarked to my instructor (who is used to me); "Flaps VTOL, Nozzles to 70 degrees"

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A very interesting topic indeed! Quite a few videos on the interwebz of folks attempting just what we're discussing. If I may I'd love to share my little story for those so curious. Not sure if it help answer the question or if it even contributes, but what else are forums good for if not for the flow of information.

I started flying virtually when I was 15. A google expert and a great question asker. Thought I knew everything. I was far from it as I later learned in my training. That said, however, the funny thing was that at the very start of my flight training, because of my flight sim experience, I was able to solo successfully in 1.5 hours of instruction with no previous real world flight experience. I spent 3 days straight prior on the sim with the Just Flight 152 to get as familiar as possible with the real bird. It paid out. I was terrified on the takeoff roll, but once airborne, things (especially those previously simulated) started dialing in. Nothing can prepare you for the real sensation of the physical motion and the control finesse required to manage aerodynamic forces. But I will for ever preach that if you take flight simming with a degree of realism and treat it genuinely like the real thing, you're going to be a lot better off. To end my story, I continued with my flight training and ended up completing my SEL PPL within 40.5 hours. Legal minimum is 40 hours with national average north of 50. Can't say it was all due to my flight sim passion...but a massive chunk of it certainly was.

Later in life I was also able to fly a Level D CRJ and Phenom 100 sim. Granted by this time I had completed my flight training, but I still leveraged flightsim in a way that allowed me to learn and be comfortable with the hardware. So to answer the general question of the topic, I absolutely think that someone who is serious about how they treat flight simulation can manage to wrestle a plane down to the runway for a landing.

Here's a picture of happy me when I first got in to the 152 and was about to taste the first flavors of real flight.

P1010574.jpg~original

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2 hours ago, N2382R said:

I was able to solo successfully in 1.5 hours of instruction with no previous real world flight experience.

I don’t want this to come across the wrong way, but I find it hard to believe that a CFI let you solo after 1.5 hours. That’s virtually unheard of. I don’t know any CFI that would let anyone, regardless of age or knowledge  solo after only 1.5 hours of instruction. The lowest amount of hours I’ve heard anyone solo (in modern days) was around 8 hours minimum.

Frankly I’m not sure how you could demonstrate everything needed for solo flight in only 1.5 hours (stall recovery/recognition, engine out procedures, ATC capacity, basic airmanship, and many other things). Just those things alone require some hours of practice and mastery before taking it up alone.

If this is true, which I’m am very skeptical of, I’m glad your alive to talk about it.


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22 minutes ago, cmpbellsjc said:

I don’t want this to come across the wrong way, but I find it hard to believe that a CFI let you solo after 1.5 hours. That’s virtually unheard of. I don’t know any CFI that would let anyone, regardless of age or knowledge  solo after only 1.5 hours of instruction. The lowest amount of hours I’ve heard anyone solo (in modern days) was around 8 hours minimum.

Frankly I’m not sure how you could demonstrate everything needed for solo flight in only 1.5 hours (stall recovery/recognition, engine out procedures, ATC capacity, basic airmanship, and many other things). Just those things alone require some hours of practice and mastery before taking it up alone.

If this is true, which I’m am very skeptical of, I’m glad your alive to talk about it.

Trust me, you’re as surprised as I was back then. Was still proud as a mofo when I taxied back. Still have the shirt tail to prove it. After what felt like a short flight we did a full stop, he jumped out, and basically told me “okay now do a pattern while I watch”. It was an uncontrolled field so he stayed on CTAF and listened in just in case. 

 

My my only point I was trying to bring out is that my flight sim experience was a key tool in giving me the confidence and apparent wherewithal to do what I did. 

Edited by N2382R

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