How to land a plane (just in case)
Picture this: you’re sitting mid-flight and there’s a sudden jolt. The seatbelt sign flashes and the flight attendants rush to the cockpit. They open the door, take one glance, then start to whisper amongst each other. Passengers start to glance around nervously, before you hear the last thing you ever want to hear on a flight: “Excuse me, but are there any pilots onboard?”
So, what do you do if you’re ever greeted with this unwelcome (and thankfully highly unlikely) announcement? Well, speaking on popular internet forum Quora, a pilot has shared incredibly detailed instructions on what to do if you ever find yourself in this sort of a bind. And the situation isn’t as helpless as you might think.
Bruno Gilissen (the pilot) writes, “If both pilots died and no other pilot is on board and you’re going to be the hero of the day, follow this procedure (for a commercial jet). Don’t panic. The airplane flies on autopilot. You’re not dead. You’re going to be the hero soon. Take your time. Following a procedure slowly produces often faster results than rushing.
“Try to find out how the radio works. This shouldn’t be too hard. Don’t press it yet, but there’s usually a push-to-talk button on the stick, often on the backside of it, like a trigger.
“Careful here because there’s also one that disconnects the autopilot on the stick… Usually the autopilot disconnect button is red and operated by a thumb.”
After this Gilissen advises you put a distress call out by saying, “Mayday, mayday, mayday,” which should be enough to get air traffic control’s attention. Once contact has been established, it’s time for you to initiate the ‘talk-down’ procedure.
“Once you talk to someone, they’ll probably try to talk you down,” explains Gilissen. “They'll no doubt guide you to the nearest suitable airport that has autoland capability.
“No sweat. The airplane will land itself there, provided you operate the autopilot as you're told. You put on the autobrake and it will even brake automatically and you still get all the hero credit.”
So there you have it! Think you could land a plane?