Can a PA28 pilot land a 737?

imagine you're a private pilot like me and you're traveling on a commercial airline and one of the flight attendants puts out a message asking if there are any pilots on board it turns out both the captain and the first officer of this flight have become incapacitated I'm a motion flight training near Gatwick and I'm about to be thrown into the deep end on their Boeing 737 ng fixed-base simulator the circumstances we're recreating today may sound far-fetched but complete crew incapacitation isn't without precedent so this scenario this nightmare scenario that I've presented of the two pilots being incapacitated I mean could that happen well it could happen the only incidents that I've heard of where something very similar to this happened was back in the days when the Berlin Wall was up and my colleagues were departing from Berlin Tegel down to the Canary Islands and because the water system had been flushed out and chemicals have been put in to cleanse it they hadn't taken the chemicals back out so after that all had their cups of teas and coffees they started to become sick with the copilot and the flight engineer incapacitated the captain was able to remain in his seat but it wasn't a very pretty sight and he was obviously sick as well and the only thing he could think of was Gatwick and it was a straight line from Berlin to Gatwick for forget about any niceties about planning or anything like that and they landed and then obviously port health kept the water on board the aircraft to find out exactly what it was that went wrong the 737 cockpit is vastly more complicated than that in the single-engine warrior I'm used to my only experience flying something like this comes from Microsoft Flight Simulator back in the day I've not been acquainted with any of the controls or systems or even told where we are so will I be able to get this aeroplane and its passengers on the ground it's time to find out so I'm the only one in here and I've got to try and work out what's going on we are flight level two six zero we're heading southeast this zooms me in and out okay I need to work out where we are I don't want to press anything and make it all go wrong that's position root no it's not what we want I need to try and work out how do I get this legs there we go so we're heading with 28 miles from Sam and that must be Sam ahead so we're quite close how do I make the chair forward is it this one I wouldn't be laughing in real life of course using my computer flight sim experience I've been able to work out that the aeroplane is 28 miles west of Southampton but with no time in an actual 737 cockpit practical matters like knowing how to position the seat present a big challenge there we go there we go whatsapp is engaged I need to radio someone and tell them what's going on and I've got to find the I presume that's don't want to take the autopilot off the autopilot disconnect button and the radio presto talks which are both on the control wheel neither is labeled so I have to take somewhat of a gamble when choosing which is which pilot I think this is the this is the radio I think Mayday Mayday Mayday this is a Boeing 737 flight level 2 6 0 18 miles from Sierra alpha mic currently squawking seven one three two hey son can you change please to 7700 standby right I'll set that stand by seven seven zero-zero this is my calling squawking seven seven zero zero over okay when you identify flight level two six zero your mayday is acknowledged at time mem 6:05 can you please confirm the maitre d emergency motion zero one all crew incapacitated I'm a private pilot there are no other pilots on board we have approximately 200 passengers and we need to return to landing my fuel endurance is showing two point six and we're a Boeing 737 in a situation like this among other things air traffic control will likely get a 737 pilot on the radio one would hope they'd be able to give me instructions that will help me control the aircraft towards a safe landing beacon set in that altitude window the number 3,000 and that will be 3,000 feet 3,000 feet motion 0 0 1 okay three thousand seven is eros ear one Haitians is there one to enable you to descend to this altitude of 3,000 feet you will see there a switch on the bottom of this panel and it's lvl CHD is level change if you say that switch and present pressing level change motion zero zero one zero zero one being falsely but they are backwards the throttle he preserved at motion zero zero one okay excellent okay so now you're in the descent towards London and Gatwick we've got flat Weaver here looks like the trim here speed brakes here I tuned the ILS receiver to Gatwick and feel quietly confident barring any curveballs but I can get the aeroplane lined up for approach Alan who's had a 35-year career flying passenger aeroplanes agrees I think it's doing very well at the moment he seems to be in control of the aeroplane understanding completely what air traffic control is saying to him not panicking and in the slightest whatsoever and being very rational logical with his thinking step by step I'm pretty sure we will have a good outcome flaps are up at the moment my first flat can go down at 250 so we can start deploying flaps if we went to my ref speed flat 40 looks here to be one three five so that's going to be what we end up approaching out I would have thought we're turning now we're turning left which is off which is off my plan here motion 0 0 1 we're in a left turn my navigation computer is showing but I should have turned right that is correct now I will give you heading us to fly you will have to select a heading all 0 8 0 having 0 place below that window as having a select HD GSD L now the aircraft should start to turn to the right a fun motion 0/0 everything that John has done so far and that he's assumed to be happening is quite correct his actions are very good he noticed that the aircraft was turning the wrong way and requested assistance and help from air traffic control they gave him correct heading to step to make sure that the earth plane was routing in the right direction hey sup now if you move that backwards there's a number called what number one if you now reduce your speed and if you select to zero speed to zero zero motion series using the flat leaver once again you will have to move it the number five position flat five motion zero zero one that's coming in now so if this gonna be set up for the ILS well the ILS is showing there but is it actually going to show me I can see the glide slope and the localizer we're going to ask you to put the undercarriage down now that was leaving with the wheel you'll have to pull it out and down we do that now gear coming to our motion zero zero one and what mics do you see in front of you about believer stubborn motion zero zero one we've got three green motion zero zero one passing through flight level nine zero excellent patient zero zero latency is there one turn left onto a heading of no that's three six zero or zero zero zero something left heading north motion zero zero one zero one the clinic is one zero one three and Eric my emotions is 110 left now on to our heading something left heading three zero zero motion 0:01 / the left one - they're heading off to nine zero left two-niner-zero you will see a button which says vor LOC for long they thought if you press that firmly please hear our lot that will automatically program the autopilot to intercept the localizer and then row to six left I show you with 28 miles per landing so I'm just looking to see that we level off at 3,000 here now and made a motion cell by radar display I show you intercepting the localizer for gap Rick's one-way to six left well done this aeroplane when configured correctly should be able to land itself air traffic control with the help of a 737 pilot and a bit of Microsoft Flight Simulator experience on my part has got us lined up on final approach I'm just hoping now that luck remains on my side about 15 motion 0 we have green lights and 15 is identified motion so we've got an over speed I think that at the moment with the autopilot flying the aircraft with the correct speed set the aircraft has the wheels down has the flaps in a position which is safe for landing I think that there's a 90% probability that we're going to have a successful outcome to this landing below the patent you press which says their lock there is an approach group s approach these approaches now set motion 0 0 and in front of you but the blue sky of the artificial horizon to the right should be a right G s if you have a rate of GS a firm motion zerah zerah want excellent so we're 13 miles and were at 3,000 feet we would on a three degree we would be descending from that three six nine or 3/3 10 miles so we were we should be beginning our descent shortly so the landing flaps you will be starting your descent on final approach in two miles in 40 seconds can we select the flat leaf and then our please 230 flaps 30 motion zero zero one and set the speed please two one five zero speed one five zero motion zero zero glide slope is alive motion 0:01 it's a beautiful day at london gatwick there is no wind clear skies and you should be able to see the airport very shortly straight ahead in front of you out of the window motion 0:01 are filled in sight only panel that we discussed earlier with the speeds are heading in the altitude if you move from left to right you will see two buttons which says Charlie Mike Delta which stands for command there on the right hand side next to your course selector see commands question zero zero one should be green the other should be blank you need to press the blank Charlie Mike Delta budget so motions original pressing command Bravo a thumb hey bub this now means that the aircraft will land automatically on the runway and if you select the flat believer there the way to the back and the number four zero forty flat force emotions 0 0 1 and if we select speed - 145 145 speed 145 motion 0 0 1 and will I need to do anything once we touch down brakes or anything like that about the engine instruments on the center t television display you will see a word Pluto break my son now if you select that to the far right position which is max course brakes set to max motion zero zero one Tony to arm the speed brakes the speed brakes will declare automatically once you touchdown at this point Alan thought I was finding this all too easy so even though the aeroplane could have landed itself safely without warning on short final he disconnected the autopilot and made me attempt to hand fly the aircraft onto the runway autopilot disconnected more emotions is here one you will hear various call-outs of altitude and when you hear the number 50 close the flesh just close the plus leavers and do nothing else you're looking very good we can see through what the tower you're looking very good very good very nice seem great 4030 watching the flying reporter has saved the day with quite a lot of help from the voice in my ear 50 40 next Allen demonstrated the 737s autoland system which was amazing and I flew a visual circuit in the snow just for fun so great 40 secret Sergi come on down you go come on matey [Music] well that was quite an amazing experience I have to be honest with you really impressed that the plane can land itself and with a bit of know-how a private pilot could come in here and twiddle a few knobs and get it pointing at the runway and there'd be a successful outcome one would hope I mean I've got the benefit of having played a bit on flight simulator so this cockpit is pretty familiar to me I know I think I know what most of the buttons do but as you saw I was struggling a bit at the beginning as for the manual flying so so different to fly my pa-28 and that visual circuit was probably the worst circuit I've ever done but yeah it's running experience and and really really nice to come and have a bit of a play to be honest and it's just good fun my thanks to Alan at motion flight training for inviting me along next time I'll have a big announcement to make about my future flying stay subscribe to the channel to be in the know fly safely my friends

Channel: The Flying Reporter

Views: 915,923

Rating: 4.9243236 out of 5

Keywords: General aviation, PA28, The Flying Reporter, 737 simulator

Id: PZQnGyFLjsE

Length: 18min 38sec (1118 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 06 2020