I had a dream I had to land a large passenger airplane!

[Tycho]

This was sort of a nightmare, but not exactly.

For whatever reason, there was no one aboard a commercial flight who could pilot a plane I was on.

I lied and said I knew how to fly. Technically, I've had instruction, but never on actually landing - and never on something bigger than a private jet versus a large airliner.

Well, I didn't want to trust anyone else who also didn't know what they were doing.

So there I was in the cockpit, pulling on levers and seeing what they'd do, so I could get a grasp on how to control the plane.

I actually got it, got the landing gear down, and landed the plane!

However, I didn't really know how to brake, so once on the ground, I was driving the big plane everywhere, trying to figure out how to turn the engines off.

I drove into a hanger and crunched the nose of the plane against a wall, backed the tail into another wall, and ground crew and brave volunteer pilots were running, scrambling to possibly climb up my plane's wheel wells and get on board her to help me power down.

I woke up from my dream while I was still driving the jet into the walls, other parked planes, etc. After such a successful, damage-free, smoothe landing, too....

[LTBasker]

I lied and said I knew how to fly. Technically, I've had instruction, but never on actually landing - and never on something bigger than a private jet versus a large airliner.

How very Kurt Russel of you.*

That'd be a pretty cool dream, actually, and they tested if that was possible on Mythbusters. Apparently if you're patient, calm and listen to the person giving you instructions then you have a good chance of landing a plane successfully. Though, Kurt Russel didn't have anyone giving him instruction, so he should've crashed and burned.

However, they mentioned on Mythbusters that most airliners now have an auto-pilot feature that can land the plane itself. So, you'll get to trust HAL after something mysteriously happens to your pilots! Yay!

*See "Executive Decision"

[Jedi_Kal-El]

How come I only have dreams about Indian women and Armageddon? I must be disturbed.

[Darth Jax]

Was Robert Stack around to help talk you down?

[Tycho]

Was Robert Stack around to help talk you down?

No. The radio wasn't working or they had no power on the ground. I'm not sure. But there was nobody there to help talk me down.

It was all trial-and-error. I still had some altitude when I got in the cockpit so I could experiment with the controls a little, watching my altimeter and horizontal displays, looking out the windows to watch my wing flaps, and feeling the vibration from deploying the landing gear.

I was teaching myself how to fly, all with probably only 30 minutes in which to do it. A very stressful dream.

I'd like to put the idea down for a book idea, but what would the book be about? It could be about almost anything to have my character(s) wind up in a plane.

[Jedi_Kal-El]

I'd like to put the idea down for a book idea, but what would the book be about? It could be about almost anything to have my character(s) wind up in a plane.

Buisness man flying home to see his family. Out of all the passengers you're either the most qualified, or the only one brave enough to go into the cockpit.

[Tycho]

With the exception of Tom Hanks even trying to fly the plane, that was sort of done in Cast Away, though it was far from a successful landing.

[Jedi_Kal-El]

He wasn't flying home to see his family though, , but hey you just gave me a good idea for a new thread.

[Exhaust Port]

I lied and said I knew how to fly. Technically, I've had instruction, but never on actually landing - and never on something bigger than a private jet versus a large airliner.

Next time you're in this situation remember "Pull Back...trees get smaller. Push Forward...trees get bigger." That's about it.

However, they mentioned on Mythbusters that most airliners now have an auto-pilot feature that can land the plane itself. So, you'll get to trust HAL after something mysteriously happens to your pilots! Yay!

They didn't mention that the number of aircraft models that are even capable of an autoland is quite small. It's far from the "most" they stated. Not only does the airplane need to be properly equipped, so does the airport/runway where you are landing. Could a non-pilot land an aircraft with the autoland capabilities? Sure, if enough time was available to get everything set up. Could a non-pilot land an aircraft without the autoland capabilities? Sure (to an extent), as demonstrated by the Mythbusters. Of course they were tested in basically a no weather environment. With normal weather conditions, or worse, something would probably end up being bent.

[LTBasker]

Sorry, I couldn't remember how many they said would have the auto-pilot feature, I just assumed most airliners would want to be using that. Definitely not sure if there would be much setting up to do, nor if the AI auto-pilot would really need much more info from the airport than a normal pilot gets from the tower.

As for the Mythbusters being able to land, I'm pretty sure they had some extra difficulties thrown in, but Adam wasn't able to land while Jamie was. And, we know Jamie is much more focus than Adam, so it's doubtful the average person would really be as mentally-prepared for such a challenge.

I admit, it's been awhile since I've seen the episode. Tycho's dream sounds like absolute worst case scenario though, which would probably mean your only option is taking your chance of jumping out of the plane when it gets what you feel is low enough to the ground. I'd rather go splat than get tossed around in an explosive tin can...