How nervous are pilots when taking off/landing a plane? Are they totally freaked out or cool as a cucumber?

Answer 1

You cant be a pilot if your freaking out!...you never hear a pilot say hes going to work!...hes going flying...and because they understand the principals of flight...they would be surprised if when at rotation speed they DIDNT take off!!!...did you know that an aircraft can take off even if 3 out of 4 engines fail at the criticle point of "rotation" ie the point where a predermined speed is achieved when the nose is lifted to increase the "angle of attack" of the wings and lift is generated...but at reduced climb etc...and believe it or not?...the plane is "sucked" up into the air!!!...all 500 tons! of it...and once airbourne the aircraft is in its own element and in the hands of professionals who fly their route aided by no less than 3 of everything that can go wrong!...imagine having triple electrics/3 computers/3 hydraulic systems/3 sets of instruments and knowing that if everything failed you can still glide for up to a 100 miles down and land at a nearby airport!!!...theres a lot of redundancy built into aircraft...and thats what makes it the safest way to travel...

Answer 2

Speaking for myself, when I was first in training, I was a lot less relaxed than I am now. The more you do it, the more it becomes second nature.
Now that's not to say I am kicked back relaxed. Take-offs, and especially landings, are where the highest workload for a pilot occur. I need to be on my toes, paying attention to every detail, every time. I guess cool externally, but with my full attention to the task, would describe it best.
Certain landings do still cause a little pucker factor for me, like landing in a gusty crosswind, at airports with lots of changing terrain features near the runway. Steady crosswinds aren't that big of a deal, but when they are constantly changing, it does increase the workload. You try to keep the aircraft lined up with the runway center line, while insuring you have enough, but not too much, forward airspeed for a safe landing. All the while the air you are flying in is constantly changing. Hills and trees, too, always add a change in wind direction, just to add to the mix. At these times, I usually have to tell myself to relax. As for me, I fly better when I don't have a death grip on the yoke. :-)

Other landings are just plain fun. There is very little in this world cooler than bringing a seaplane into a remote lake, with just enough ripple on the water to avoid a glassy water landing. It is so peaceful as the floats break the water, and the plane settles in for a landing.

Answer 3

Not at all nervous. If pilots were really freaking out at this critical moment of flight, there would be a lot more accidents.

Take off is more procedural, whle landing involves more skill, but really with practice both become relatively easy. All that said though, they still require total concentration. Landings can be made worse by strong crosswinds or low visibility. In that case, I still wouldn't describe it as freaking out or stress or cool as a cucumber, but just very very precise , cautious and concentrated.

Pilots are very well trained for the worst case scenario ie: landing with multiple system failiures and in bad conditions, so anything less than that will give them no reason to stress. Hope that makes it somewhat clearer!

Answer 4

A good pilot, well trained and experienced is never supposed to be "cool as a cucumber". He should always be alert and ready to respond to an unexpected situation. To honestly answer your question, a pilot should be
"comfortable" landing the aircraft, not nervous but also not complacent or over confident.

Answer 5

It really depends on the individual and the SITUATION (weather)...

I flew as aircrew (Sensor Operator/Rescue Swimmer) in the US Navy for 15 years, and I have seen cool... AND FREAKED.

I had one new pilot who froze on approach to the back of the ship... it was a storm, the waves were 10-12 feet, and the @ss-end of the ship was bouncing all over. He simply couldn't get his head straight and get us on the deck. SO, the senior pilot took over and put us right on the deck... "cool as a cucumber".

I also have had other "wonderful" weather incidents, engine failures, gear-box failures... including TWO incidents that required putting the bird in the water.

MY pilots were 98% cool...

Answer 6

Many, many years ago, I was first officer on a 4-engine piston powered cargo plane (a C-118). We were on final into a busy airport when a HUGE black-and-yellow hornet appeared out of nowhere and started buzzing around our faces.

We were both a bit nervous, but I figured whoever didn't get stung would finish the landing. After we got on the ground, the Captain reached into his flight bag and came out with one of those little scooping nets that sales people in pet stores use to scoop fish out of the aquarium. He deftly and gently caught the scary insect, and twisted the net so it could not escape.

After we parked, he took it outside and released it. A very gentle guy. A Buddhist. He explained that in cargo service, insects in the cockpit are a common occurrence. I went straight to the nearest pet store and bought one of those nets, and kept it in my flight case until the day I retired. I used it about five times in 30 years.

Other things happen. Warning lights pop on on short final. Parts of the airplane fail without warning (really not very often), and once a huge grass mowing tractor got away from its driver and ran out onto the runway right in front of us at Seattle. We had to go around.

So you DO get a little sweaty once in a while. Usually it's when something really weird happens like that. And of course on checkrides that's when they give you all the simulated emergencies they can think of, just to make sure you can handle it. So part of handling nervousness is practicing pretending you aren't nervous. They can can tell, but they give you "points" for doing a good job of pretending to be calm.

But to answer your question in a little different way, I would advise anyone not EVER to ride with a pilot who claims never to have been afraid while at the controls. It's normal to have scary things happen once in a great while. It's what makes experienced pilots experienced pilots.

Sweet dreams.

Answer 7

Well most airline pilots do it several times a day,and have had a lot of training,like rideing a bicycle, More attention is given to the flight during to take of and landing as if an emergency arises they can act more swiftly,, example they loose and engine on take off it is very serious compared to looseing and engine at 30,000 feet,,,

because you have more time to react at 30,000 with only seconds on take off

Answer 8

The good ones are cool as a cucumber, as you say... This is the most stressful part of flying for most pilots, but with literally hundreds of hours spent training on this topic, it becomes second nature to most.

Answer 9

You are trained to a point where you don't worry about it. I'm a little bit more cautious in bad weather, cloud and turbulence when on final approach, but this means just monitoring your instruments as you would per normal anyway. Visual approaches are great as it is alot more looking outside than inside.

Overall, no-one I know freaks out, we are all pretty relaxed in most circumstances, even when we are practising with single engine power on a multi-engine aircraft

Answer 10

regardless of the emergency, the best responders keep their wits about them so they can think clearly. the best pilots are not nervous about take offs and landings, but they are always running emergency senarios through their minds, and what reactions they need to make to keep the plane flying. the best pilots also stop flying the plane when it has stopped and the engines are shut down.