Forum: aviation.stackexchange.com
Tags: <landing>
Title: Could a single engine pilot land a passenger jet? (from Airplane)
Question: I'm assuming that almost everyone on this website has seen the movie Airplane at least a few times...  Last time I was watching it I was wondering how plausible the actual act of having a single engine prop pilot, with a lot of training (maybe comparable to a modern day aerobatic pilot), land a quad engine passenger jet?

Answers:
sents: text: I can relate to you the true story of my uncle who successfully landed a large WWII aircraft with no flight training.
text: He was the flight surgeon on board a large aircraft that got heavily shot up.
text: Hostile fire killed or severely injured every crew member.
text: He moved the pilot out of his seat, and contacted a control tower.
text: With the expert help of the control tower operators, he successfully landed the aircraft.
text: After the war, he had a private practice in his home where he saw patients.
text: For patients too ill to come to him, he performed house calls.
text: He continued to perform house calls until a short time before he passed.
text: I have always thought his life story would form a compelling foundation for an inspiring movie.
answer_details: author: aviation.stackexchange.com/users/4095/RockPaperLz- Mask it or Casket
score: 9
sents: text: Yes.
text: The question will have subjective answers and this is my opinion.
text: The basics of flying an airplane doesn't change from a single engine airplane to a big airliner.
text: The concept of lining up on final, flaring into the touchdown attitude and setting it down is exactly the same.
text: There are some things that are different; for example, retractible landing gear, leading edge slats, spoilers and thrust reversers.
text: Many of the differences can be overcome by talking with ATC and an instructor / pilot trained to fly that airplane through the radio.
text: The biggest challenge would be knowing when to flare as you are sitting much higher in an airliner than in a single engine airplane.
text: This can be overcome with listening to the radar altimeter and flaring as directed by the instructor.
answer_details: author: aviation.stackexchange.com/users/9491/wbeard52
score: 8
sents: text: I'd share a personal experience: a few years ago I got the chance to fly a Boeing 737 simulator (the real thing, not the PC simulator!)
text: At that time the only real aircraft I've flown was a Cessna 172.
text: I managed to land on Kai Tak airport in the simulator on my very first attempt to land a (simulated) 737.
text: I was so nervous that I totally forgot to call for the landing checklist, and the instructor helped me with the gear and flaps, but I was the sole manipulator of the controls
text: and I landed with no automation whatsoever, not even ILS.
text: How?
text: There were a few factors that came into play:
text: I learnt how planes fly in ground school.
text: Big planes fly just the same way as smaller planes, only with larger wings and more powerful engines.
text: I knew how to manipulate the flight controls.
text: It came as a bit of a surprise that the controls feel heavier than I'd expect, but they behaved the same anyway.
text: My enthusiasm in aviation meant I have learnt beyond the Cessna 172 from books, online articles and PC simulation experience.
text: I was not able to identify every single switch and knob in the cockpit, but I knew enough to fly the plane in that situation.
text: My answer?
text: If it's a perfectly flyable aircraft (no failures), calm weather, then
text: Yes, definitely!
text: Here's what I'd do if it happens in real life: Aviate, navigate, communicate.
text: No matter what happens, always remember that.
text: That means the first thing to do after entering the cockpit is not to find the radio buttons and call for help; the first thing is to access all primary flight instruments and make sure we're flying.
text: Radio for help .
text: Declare an emergency on the last radio frequency.
text: If no one responds, tune to 121.5 and try again.
text: Request a long runway with calm weather.
text: Unless it's something like a A380 or Boeing 747, chances are there would be a runway long enough
text: so you don't have to worry about hitting the touchdown spot.
text: Setup autoland , if available.
text: Autoland requires suitable equipment both on the plane and on the ground.
text: If it's not available, given a long enough final (say 20 miles), I think I'd feel comfortable hand flying the aircraft down.
text: Have the emergency trucks standing by .
text: In the event I crashed during landing, gear collapsed or whatever, everyone'd be ready to help.
answer_details: author: aviation.stackexchange.com/users/3386/kevin
score: 5
sents: text: My dad, an experienced pilot, was once given the chance to fly a 727 simulator (full motion, the works).
text: He stalled it 40 feet over the runway and the simulator came down hard enough on the stops to hurt his back and scramble the gyros.
text: That's only one data point, but any rate, the crash would have been survivable, so there's that.
answer_details: author: aviation.stackexchange.com/users/87/Edward Falk
score: 4
sents: text: Like anything in aviation, it depends, There, to date, have been no documented cases of this happening.
text: There have been a few "talk down landings" in smaller aircraft with low time or inexperienced pilots.
text: Similarly there is at least one documented case of an air force B-1B Pilot assisting in landing an airliner
text: he had no experience flying but
text: you can argue he had plenty of jet time.
text: People have tried it in simulators of course but a sim is a sim.
text: Of course things like cross winds and runway length will play into the success rate of an event like this.
text: I will say that the margin of error on these things is small and on a calm day
text: I'm sure it's possible.
text: I would hesitate to give a hard yes to this question since there are far to many factors to take into account
text: but I do feel under the correct circumstances it could be done.
text: On a small side note, since this question is about Quad Engine planes (747, A380 etc) considering the distances those planes typically fly it's more than likely that there is one if not two relief crews on the plane so the chances of everyone becoming incapacitated and requiring a passenger step up to the plate is slim to none.
answer_details: author: aviation.stackexchange.com/users/3677/Dave
score: 3

Summary of the answers:
Landing a plane of any size is basically the same so a trained pilot could land a jet liner. The biggest challenge would be the position that is much higher in a commercial aircraft. There are no documented cases of such incidents, however.
There are no known cases of this happening. The basic principles of flying an airplane do not change - whether it's a single engine plane or a large airliner. One difference would be that in an airliner, you are sitting higher up so knowing when to flare would be the biggest challenge.