How good would it feel to finally hear those magic words:

"Is anyone on board a current instrument rated pilot?"

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/11/19/pilot.breakdown.ap/index.html

What caught my eye was the fact that the incident occurred in January, but it's only now being widely reported. I wouldn't have thought it possible to keep something like that under wraps for so long. It's great that the flight attendant gets to log some SIC jet time! Good for him/her!

Sorry for the copilot - sounds like his flying days are over.

PA12_Pilot wrote:What caught my eye was the fact that the incident occurred in January, but it's only now being widely reported. I wouldn't have thought it possible to keep something like that under wraps for so long. It's great that the flight attendant gets to log some SIC jet time! Good for him/her!

Sorry for the copilot - sounds like his flying days are over.

Nah, he'll just become a bush pilot!

It said the co-pilot was a licensed veteran with more than 6,500 hours' flying time, about half on board Boeing 767s, and had recently passed a medical examination.

Thank God he had a medical. That system sure worked....

k

"license for reading instruments"? What was going on that it took two pilots? Surely one can do the job, that thing is not that poorly designed is it?

yea...

you have to do a few approaches with an "incapacitated pilot" during training and an app during your check-ride.

it just makes it a hell of alot easier to stay in the game with someone to read the checklist off for you...

Getting someone else up in the cockpit would be more of a distraction and hindurance than a help. Trying to explain what you wanted them to do would take more time and effort than doing it alone. I've done the alone thing in a heavy jet and it actually takes less effort than when flying single pilot IFR with no autopilot or flight director. Did that a bunch and I'm not dead.

Sure,

Airliners....especially modern ones, sans Flight Engineers, can be flown "single pilot" with realative ease.

None the less having someone to run the radios, checklist and just a second pair of eyes and ears is IMHO an asset.

Airline pilots have all done the "dead pilot" training, including my very first airline checkride in 1972....while flying a real airliner.... not a simulator.

Oh yeah. I soloed my son at age 13. Well I was on board but never "opened my eyes". Guess he did the "dead man" thing too!

Bob

yea... real hard to say:

"read the left side of the ______ check list for me. I will handle everything else"



is it really that hard? no...
In reality you can do whatever you prefer.. as the only guy who would say something different is already incapacitated! The actual likely hood of encountering that scenario in a lifetime of flying 121..... .00093%

If I recall reading the complete release on this situation, they did a CAT II landing in London LHR,so it probably was a big help having a second person on the flight deck ?

My alone time was in the aircraft. Actually I wasn't alone, had two doctors working on my flying partner in the bunk room throughout the landing.

At my airline anything less than CI approach (i.e. CII & CIII) require an autoland which is a basic no brainer. The extra helper in the cockpit wouldn't know what to watch for and call out anyway without doing it a number of times in a sim and watching everything happen.

IMHO I still say leave this stuff to the script writers for Charlie's Angels.

I've often wondered how some of these people get medicals? Ok they might be physically healthy but mentally?

thats too bad for the other guy.
no auto-land on my crap box's. catII's are just monitored.

If they are IFR rated as in the story at least they at know what going on once your on the ILS.

oh well your pref. hope the real thing never happens to me.

cheerios2 wrote: The actual likely hood of encountering that scenario in a lifetime of flying 121..... .00093%

He shoulda bought a lotta ticket that day.