How to Land a Plane, a DIY Guide

Posted by Alex in Car & Vehicle on September 24, 2008 at 1:54 pm


We’ve all thought about it while flying, "what if the pilot and copilot are somehow knocked out and it’s up to us to land the plane?" (Well, it’s the plot of many a movies anyhow!)

The Art of Manliness has the how to guide that may just one day save your life. Here’s the complete guide to emergency airplane landings:

When you first arrive in the cockpit take the left seat if possible, this is generally where the Captain or Aircraft Commander sits and often has easier access to some of the instruments you’ll need to fly. However, the majority of dual seat aircraft can be flown from either side.

As soon as you sit down take a deep breath and look outside to see if the aircraft is in a dive (you see more ground in the windscreen than sky), climb, turn, etc. If it appears to be straight and level then don’t touch the flight controls, the autopilot is most likely on and there’s no need to interfere. If, however, the airplane is racing towards the ground or in a steep turn, then you need to use the stick or yoke (pilot speak for steering wheel) to bring it back to wings level flight. Just like in the video games, you pull back on the yoke to make it climb, push forward to make it descend, and turn it right or left to turn.

I’m sure all those hours playing Flight Sim would be well worth it: Link

(Photo: hartlandmartin [Flickr])


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COMMENT

7 comments to "How to Land a Plane, a DIY Guide"

  1. Tweeker
    September 24th, 2008 at 3:21 pm

    Article fails to instruct on how one breaks into the cockpit to get at those unmanned controls.

  2. charles
    September 24th, 2008 at 4:19 pm

    Oh my.

    "As long as you follow instructions (over the radio no less) to the letter, you'll be fine."

    It is incredibly challenging to land an aircraft.

    I've been flying for 25 years, have my own very high performance airplane, and fly half a dozen other ones on a regular basis. I was put in a 777 simulator this year, and crashed it the first three times I tried to land.

    Thank god this scenario rarely, if ever, gets tested!

  3. jmp478
    September 24th, 2008 at 5:18 pm

    Someone hasn't seen Mythbusters.
    Just turn on autopilot. Planes can land themselves.

  4. Johnny Cat
    September 24th, 2008 at 11:38 pm

    You'd think planes could land themselves, what with Mac and Micro battling it out while competing with Google. I had a pilot buddy once offer me a ride in his Cessana if I agreed to either take off or land it. I passed, because I didn't believe his assertion that both are actually quite easy.

  5. S-r-ex
    September 25th, 2008 at 2:17 am

    As long as it is an Airbus, my little brother would essentially be a god as far as cockpit controls go. His hours of flightsim surpasses the lifetime of Chuck Norris...

  6. Kitty
    September 25th, 2008 at 10:34 am

    That's how they ended "Snakes On a Plane": "I've logged hundreds of hours...in a flight simulator!"

  7. BoT
    September 25th, 2008 at 3:17 pm

    The left seat in an airliner has no better access to any control than the right seat, with the usual exception of the 'tiller,' which is only used to steer the plane during taxiing. Which is the last thing your neophyte pilot probably should be worrying about.


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