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Jan 10, 2023Liked by Frank J. Fleming

Someday, I’m going to land a plane by myself with only the assistance of air traffic control, saving hundreds of lives. When I’m interviewed about it afterwards, I will mention you and this article specifically as the reason for my success. And when that time comes… you better ask me how my day was.

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Jan 10, 2023Liked by Frank J. Fleming

My daughter pilots 757 and 767 for Delta. I bet she could do it!😂😂😂😂🧠

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Jan 10, 2023Liked by Frank J. Fleming

Wow, people sure have ridiculously high opinions of their competence. THAT many people think they could land a plane with only air traffic controls help? Seriously?!? We can't even vote in people who don't suck, or know what a woman is. There's a reason we never switched to flying cars.

Anywho, wonderful work, Frank. Also, the opposite of a misogynist is a gynecologist. I think.

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I do know a couple of women who can barely change a light bulb without help, but I figure in a life or death situation, most women wouldn't care what their hair looks like. That's for after it's over and the press vultures are gathering around.

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Jan 10, 2023Liked by Frank J. Fleming

I flew small single-engined airplanes in college before it became too expensive for my budget. The chance of me landing a *large* aircraft of 747-size or so is very small despite that experience *unless* the Air Traffic Controller can walk me through the autopilot settings down to just short of landing. This is not a guess, it is experience, because I had the opportunity to test my skills in a large aircraft simulator and... it went poorly every time.

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I couldn't have answered the poll. Why? Because like most polls, the question is flawed. Could I, a woman who's never landed a plane, feel confident that I could do it with only ATC's help? No. Of course not. For one thing, I'm not a pilot. That has nothing to do with my confidence level. It has to do with training. However, in the extremely unlikely event that I was called upon to land a plane, I would feel confident if I had the help of God and a qualified pilot on the ground to walk me through it.

If God can close the mouths of the lions for Daniel and cause Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to walk through the fire unscathed, then He could land a plane through me. But if it's just me and the ATC? Yeah. We're going down. And I'm confident in that.

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Well, I know that was for parody purposes, but in terms of details...

I'm an experienced amateur pilot - 700+ hours, an instrument rating (and always current), owner and operator of an advanced-avionics aircraft (with a second on factory order)... so a few quick thoughts on the serious aspects.

o If it amounted to flying the aircraft by hand, the confidence numbers are overconfident, without aviation experience; there are skills you need to develop, and you need to know what to watch to properly fly an aircraft - let alone land it, which is the most difficult task to learn. Think about the first time you tried to drive a car, and then project the "car" into three dimensions (where the "car" might crash and burn if you take your foot off the gas too much).

o Rather than "flying the aircraft," the key thing for even an experienced pilot (but not in say a large commercial jet) would be to know how to ask the right questions of someone (see below) - things like the proper pitch-and-power settings for level flight and for an approach, how and when to deploy flaps, and so forth. Pilot experience would also be required to know how to ask about using the autopilot to fly the aircraft properly, load and fly an instrument approach, etc.

o Very few controllers are actually pilots; they are trained to manage traffic and manage an airspace, not to tell pilots how to fly aircraft. If someone had to receive on-the-fly instructions, it would have to come from another pilot, not ATC.

o The silver lining is that higher-end aircraft are increasingly being equipped with "auto-land" technology, where all someone has to do is push a button and the aircraft will land itself. Cirrus has added this to their Vision Jet, and their procedures recommend that pilots point out this feature and how to activate it to passengers, in case the pilot has The Big One.

o In a situation like the one in the poll, the key factor would probably be getting the passenger-in-question to activate the automation properly - and ATC can't help you with that.

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Jan 13, 2023·edited Jan 13, 2023

Assuming they get an instructor on the radio and not a domino jockey, the plane works fine, we've got some time, and there isn't a hurricane or something? No problem. And I'm no pilot. Hell, I haven't even played a flight simulator.

Throttle makes the plane go up and down (note to self - move gradually), flaps make the wings wingy-er for flying slow, stick and pedals steer (including steering up/down to go slower/faster), and they'll tell me where the switch is to drop the gear.

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This is absolutely the funniest thing I've read in 2023.

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