Ok this one is for all pilots here. Or people with enough knowledge of aircrafts and flights.?

Question

Is it posible for a person to fly a boieng with absolutely no knowledge of flying aircrafts or any flying machine, with instructions on the radio. Like they show in movies :-)

Answer 1

For an average person with common knowledge of airplanes (e.g. the windscreen is supposed to be in front and the wings should be somewhat parallel to the ground), it's likely that he could maintain some degree of straight and level flight for at least a short time.

Airplanes are tricky...it's possible to go too slow or too fast, or over bank, or overstress the airframe with abrupt control inputs, etc....any of which would result in an unplanned and uncontrolled landing.

I suppose someone could be talked to by radio how to land an airliner, but likely the landing would be close to, but not on the airport. It would be a matter of great luck if anybody would be able to walk away from the smoking rubble.

So in theory, it's possible. In practice, it's doubtful.

See:

http://flash.aopa.org/asf/pinch_hitter/flash.cfm

http://www.lonestarflyers.com/pinchhitter.htm

http://www.aerotech.net/Pinch_Hitter_Training/body_pinch_hitter_training.html

Answer 2

The answer to this one is somewhat a matter of opinion, however here's mine.

Someone with no knowledge whatsoever of how to fly an airplane could probably do simple maneuvers such as very gentle turns while sitting in the pilot's seat; PROVIDED a real pilot was present to correct any errors or dangerous situations.

Someone with no flight experience could not possibly conduct a takeoff or even figure out how to start the engines. Climbing and descending are also out of the question much less landing which is a difficult maneuver.

It is also my belief that a person with no flight experience could not successfully pilot a small aircraft either, since the principles are exactly the same for virtually all aircraft. This no experience individual would very likely lose control within several minutes and a fatal accident would be the very likely result.

All this just IMHO.

Answer 3

I disagree with Harold, small planes HAVE been landed by being talked down after the pilot has become incapacitated, I know an instructor who has actually helped do just that, between this instructor who was able to intercept the plane and talk to them, and the air traffic controllers, they were able to land it. I think the plane was in need of a few repairs afterwords, but the person flying it survived; the pilot had a heart attack and was dead before landing they said. This has happened a number of times.
I think if someone had at least a small amount of exposure to flying that they could probably do some turns or altitude changes by being talked through it on most any aircraft, "like you see in the movies", but I think this is probably the only time you'd ever see it is in the movies. I agree you'd never get one started or moving, much less successfully land a large aircraft.

Answer 4

If you are talking about the classic 'pilots ate the fish, got food poisoning, and can someone land the plane' it is possible.

Most airliners have CATIII autoland installed as well as a three-axis autopilot, auto-throttles, auto-brakes, and auto-speed brakes. The radio would be switched on to ATC so someone would be there to give initial instruction and get an experienced pilot on comm. Fuel reserves would ensure there would be time for this.

Next, the person flying the aircraft would be given instruction on how to enter course and altitude instructions into the Flight Management System to tell the airplane where to go (an airport with a CATIII autoland approach). ATC would clear the airspace ahead of the plane. Then it is just configuring the aircraft for landing (gear and flaps down, auto-brake and auto-speedbrakes armed, altimeters set, etc) which can be done over the radio issuing instructions.

After landing, the person flying would have to deploy the thrust-reverser's and keep the plane on the runway which might be difficult, but taking out a few taxi lights is better than crashing

Answer 5

Although you can only do minor maneuvers, someone that is mentally aware of the situation they are in could easily guide an aircraft to an airport and land it via the radio. Modern aircraft are almost completely run by computers. AP (Auto Pilot) can guide a plane to the ground very easily w/o someone that is a pilot at the controls although someone with some knoweldge of aircradt would have a better chance of survival. Some planes have a system that you can easily program your route in and it will take you until the runway, and ATC (Air Traffic Controller) or someone from the manufacturer (Boeing, Airbus, Bombardier) can easily instruct you on how to program the computer and how to set the speed-brake, brakes, reverse thrust, and flaps)

Answer 6

Usually movies don't represent reality very well....everybody knows.
Years ago I had the opportunity to sit in the 3rd seat in the cockpit of B737 during landing. I'm interested in airplanes since I was 6, and this happened when I was at high school, but I never have had any expirience of piloting except in flight-simulators on PC.
I think that it's quite difficult (or impossible)for a person without any knowledge to pilot a plane and making the plane do what he want, but I remember that during that landing I thought that in case of emergency I would have been able to make that plane land.(but with a special help from the tower)
I mean that a plane equipped with that autopilot(very easy and intuitive to set) and with such rich and clear information from the tower. the tower said corrections needed to reach the next waypoint , for example (altitude 3000 ft, heading 130°) so you turned the wheel of altitude till the number in the quadrant was 3000, then pushed the wheel.(the same for heading).
Only the very last part of the landing was manual, but at that point the plane was almost landed, something like 10 (or 20) seconds before touchdown....at that point it's quite hard to make big mistakes(the landstrip was 12 o'clock, and the plane at the right altitude and speed), I think it's still difficoult to land softly.....and that with a hard landing you can break something....also big damages?? maybe, but it would be not bad for an emergency landing made by an unexperienced.

Answer 7

No its not possible to do that. Those kind of things can only happen in movies. A person needs to have knowledge of the aircraft, the locations of buttons and instruments and other important things. More over the person flying needs to understand the concept of flying and radio communications.

Answer 8

i dissagree with the detail that most of these answers go into. it's almost impossible for a person with absolutly no knowlege of flying plans to land any aircraft. whether it's a 747 or a c172. if someone had decent knowlege, yet doesn't have any type of pilots license, they might have a decent chance of bringing them down. in the movies, they only guide them down because no one wants to see everyone on that plane doomed. even if it can't happen in real life, they want a happy ending to a movie.

also, the person who has decent knowlege but no license can't be a showoff or someone who won't listen to anyone. if that's the case, everyone on the plane is doomed anyways. there's a slight chance that if no one on the plane has any knowlege at all, they could bring it down for a crash landing, but they probobly wouldn't be able to perform the flare correctly, and the gear would collapse.

chances are, if there's more than 50 people on board a plane, someone is going to have some knowlege of aircraft. either someone with a private pilots license, or an aircraft buff who fly's on sim's on the computer all the time and has understanding of the aerodynamics of an aircraft. (they may not have the dough to get their license yet.) you may laugh at those people but look at it this way. would you trust your life in the hands of someone who has a flight sim on their computer, and goes to airshows, and loves airplanes and flying, but they just haven't done it for real yet...or...would you trust someone who knows absolutly nothing about planes except that they go fast, are loud to them, and go high in the sky? i'd take the dude who fly's a computer virsion of the plane and knows how much fuel your plane could hold..

Answer 9

in a word - no. if for no other reason the person on the ground uses language that no one other than another pilot would understand. I have flown several different airplanes and I couldn't fly one via instructions from the ground. Some planes can practically land themselves these days but they still send very experienced pilots up to fly them.

Answer 10

it is possible to fly it, but landing it is pretty much impossible. With an instructor on your side, it is pretty hard to land a trainer aircraft the first time. Landing such a large aircraft without any training what so ever, that would be next to impossible.
It is however possible. on modern aircraft, to get the instructions to program the aircraft computer to land the aircraft at specific airports equiped with the nesesary landing instrumentation.