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There is another question about airliners and if someone not qualified could land them. My question is about the steps I should take to stay alive in a small GA plane.

Let say a friend of mine invites me aboard a small aircraft (like Cessna 172 or equivalent).
At some point my pilot friend passes out for some reason. What should I do considering the following:

  • I'm not a pilot.
  • I'm seated in the co-pilot seat.
  • I spent hundreds of hours on Flight Simulator (a few years ago).
  • I've been initiated to fly a small aircraft (1 session covering the very basics), but no take-off/landing exercises.
  • The weather is good.
  • Aircraft is in good condition.
  • The tank is full.
  • Area has ATC and I know how to operate the radio.


This is my guess:

  1. Hold the plane's level and heading
  2. Slap my friend to try to wake him up
  3. Send "Mayday" asking for assistance and technical guidance
  4. Try to follow ATC instructions as well as I can

Does this look good? What should be done differently?

Community
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Quentin H
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    possible duplicate of Can a passenger realistically replace suddenly incapacitated pilots? – Simon Sep 03 '15 at 09:52
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    @Simon I already saw that question, but mine is not "can I?", it's about "How do I?" ;) – Quentin H Sep 03 '15 at 09:54
  • The answers, comments and off-site links do provide everything you've asked for. The main thing is to throw away the Flight Simulator experience. The handling of a real aircraft is nothing like the PC simulations. – Simon Sep 03 '15 at 09:58
  • Yeah, if you talk about feeling the plane. But I least, I know how control surfaces work, what I'm supposed to expect if I touch this button and what a transponder looks like :) – Quentin H Sep 03 '15 at 10:00
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    Very true, and on reflection and your edit, I've retracted my VTC. – Simon Sep 03 '15 at 10:38
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    By the title of the question, I was going to say "First: Get out of stack exchange!" – Malavos Sep 03 '15 at 12:31
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    @Malavos On my checklist it was: 1. Take a selfie 2.Post it on Facebook 3.Go to SE 4.Aviate :') – Quentin H Sep 03 '15 at 12:36
  • @Simon: There is a confusion between default FSX and some very good add-ons like PMDG 737 NGX. It's not sufficient to actually land a B737 but it's not so bad either: I have [...] 12 [years] on the 737 NG [...] PMDG's NGX in my experience is extraordinarily good [...] I use it to prepare for sims and Cat C airfields and it is invaluable. The system interaction and fidelity is excellent and with far less glitches and sim-isms than many commercial sims [...] (PPRuNe). – mins Sep 03 '15 at 13:43
  • @mins. I know, I've got about a thousand hours on it. Fine for systems and autopilot, lousy for hand flying and not relevant at all for GA ;) – Simon Sep 03 '15 at 14:18
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    First, check that you yourself are OK, and not experiencing symptoms of hypoxia due to altitude or an exhaust leak. That's a whole different kind of emergency. – 200_success Sep 03 '15 at 17:35
  • The question says small plane, not an airliner. Such is probably much easier to crash-land surviving. – h22 Sep 03 '15 at 18:24
  • I like the comment take selfie post on face book etc etc. aviate, it made me laugh... Wish I'd thought of it... However you must keep the aircraft level and get it under control immediately, if you don't feel like you are in control, you will panic very quickly and things will then go from bad to worse real fast. Everything else is secondary. Even facebook :-) – Philip Johnson Sep 03 '15 at 19:33

9 Answers9

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Best case scenario: You're straight and level, on frequency with some form of human being, there's no immediate danger and you have the know-how to transmit. In that case, that human will provide you with everything they possibly can to help you. Most important thing for you to do is keep the aircraft away from clouds, away from terrain and not panic. You'll probably be in an aircraft that is more-or-less easy to fly in this situation. Most GA aircraft are quite stable and will not be a beast to control.

Once talking to ATC they will tell you to set your transponder to a number. You should find somewhere a 4-digit readout with a knob below/above each digit. Set the number indicated to help ATC identify you easily.

Otherwise, look around you for big landmarks (Mountains, Lakes, even a large Church/Cathedral) as one of the first things ATC will want to do is work out where you are.

That's best case; let's look at some alternatives.

You're out of range of the tuned frequency on the radio, or there is no response:

Tune 121.5MHz, this is the emergency frequency. Someone will be monitoring this channel and be able to give you further advice - if nothing else a local ATC channel to tune. Failing this see if your pilot has a chart handy, he may have drawn his intended route on it - look along that route for anything that looks like a frequency to tune into the radio.

Aircraft is climbing, or descending:

Get the aircraft into safe, level flight. Remember controls work in the opposite sense to what you might expect (probably not if you've ever played any flight simulator). If the engine is roaring reduce power slightly. If you appear to be losing altitude with the nose on the horizon increase power slightly. Do everything with tiny incremental changes. Try not to fiddle too much with controls, only what is necessary.

Aircraft is heading directly for a cloud/out to the sea/towards a heavily built up area/a big airport:

Turn 180 degrees - don't try to turn too quickly, it should take roughly 30 seconds to 1 minute to complete this turn.

There are courses which are aimed at non-pilots who regularly fly in the right hand seat. Here's some interesting reading:

http://www.avweb.com/news/safety/183023-1.html

Jamiec
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    All answers were very good. I accept this one since it's the closest to what the question was about: what should I do. Thank you all guys! And wow 4000 views in less than 24 hours ! – Quentin H Sep 04 '15 at 10:38
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    controls work in the opposite sense. What do you mean by this? – Simon Sep 05 '15 at 07:52
  • @Simon pushing forward makes the aircraft go down, pulling back makes it go up. Unless you're flying upside down ;) – Wayne Werner Sep 06 '15 at 12:56
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    @WayneWerner But that's the "normal sense". I still don't get the point about opposite sense. – Simon Sep 06 '15 at 14:00
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    @Simon - to anyone who has ever flown a flight sim (or even a space game!) it's normal sense. But for people who have never experienced either, pushing forwards [on a joystick/yoke] is akin to "up" and pulling towards is "down". It's perhaps a bit of a moot point, I think most people would work it out pretty darn quickly. – Jamiec Sep 07 '15 at 09:00
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This has happened before and it usually ends ok, the most important thing is to keep calm. One suggestion I would have is instead of flying straight and level I would fly a box over the current location while you speak to ATC. This will keep you in range of the ATC station you are talking to and keep you out of trouble. If you fly straight and level the terrain may come up to meet you, you could fly out to sea, or you could blunder into O'Hare's airspace with all the fun that would ensue. Try to maintain the same altitude as if you are at cruise the mixture should be set for that altitude.

A few things to add to your list:

  • You need to apply carburetor heat about every 15 minutes unless the aircraft is fuel injected. If you don't do this your carb could ice up and you could lose power. This is done by pulling the carb heat knob (or lever, depending on the AC) for 20 seconds or so and then pushing it back in
  • Fuel management: depending on the aircraft you may need to switch tanks. A C172 (and most high-wing airplanes) is generally set to both tanks in which case it's not an issue but in low-wing airplanes you will need to regularly switch tanks (say every half an hour) to keep the fuel balanced, otherwise you could run out of fuel in a tank and down you go with a full tank in the other wing. On a PA-28 the fuel selector is by the pilot's left knee which would make things interesting. Make sure you don't accidentally switch the fuel off!
  • Slapping someone isn't the best way to wake them up, pinch their earlobe as hard as you can with as much fingernail as possible, or push a pen into it. It's very painful, if anything will wake him/her that's it
ROIMaison
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GdD
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  • Thanks for your answer, very informative. If I tell ATC that I know nothing about the plane, should they be able to help me (by telling me step by step instructions, like you just did) or to find someone that could ? – Quentin H Sep 03 '15 at 09:58
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    They will find someone rated on the aircraft to assist. This has happened in quite a few cases. – Simon Sep 03 '15 at 09:59
  • And should I throw a mayday in this situation? I'm pretty sure the answer is yes, but just to be sure... – Quentin H Sep 03 '15 at 10:01
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    Yes you should definitely declare an emergency. You are in trouble and need immediate assistance. – kevin Sep 03 '15 at 10:34
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    Even if you just manage to blurt out "mayday" and roughly where you are, that will be a major boost to helping you. Since you know what the transponder looks like, setting 7700 is also a major plus but this is part of the "communicate" bit. There is no doubt that the scenario you describe is a critical emergency and you are entitled to make as much fuss as you can. – Simon Sep 03 '15 at 10:39
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    And there is a medical emergency with one of the occupants of the plane. Suddenly passing out can mean a heart attack. – ratchet freak Sep 03 '15 at 10:51
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    On the mayday point, Im struggling to think of a more emergency situation than "Aircraft has no lucid qualified pilot at the controls" – Jamiec Sep 03 '15 at 13:11
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    The wings falling off would top that one in my book @Jamiec – GdD Sep 03 '15 at 13:14
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    @GdD - just. Although in that scenario I suspect ATC's response would be "Thanks for letting us know. May god have mercy.... Fire appliances enroute" (That is unless you're a crack israeli pilot who can fly with 1 wing) – Jamiec Sep 03 '15 at 13:16
  • @Jamiec Every time I see that video I wonder how they hell the special effects were done. Still find it hard to believe, even though I know it to be true! – Simon Sep 03 '15 at 13:34
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    'Carb heat' as the first point? Makes no sense if there is no engine trouble. And every 15 minutes? That's not in any POH of any plane I've ever flown. – rbp Sep 03 '15 at 14:08
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    I also think asking a non-pilot to fly a box (or even a circle) is pushing it. Too much to concentrate on, just keeping level in a simple turn is hard enough. Get it wrong (apply too much up elevator) and you'll stall - good luck knowing what to do then without training. – Jamiec Sep 03 '15 at 14:52
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    @Jamiec I tend to agree. If you're about to fly into O'Hare's airspace, whoever is on the other end of the radio will presumably let you know about that very quickly (and give you instructions to avoid doing so while coordinating with O'Hare to let them know what's going on.) – reirab Sep 03 '15 at 18:15
  • I second @rbp; the carb heat advice here is flat out wrong. It also might be unwise, depending on the situation, since the non-pilot wouldn't know what to look for if icing occurred and would blithely turn carb heat back off after 20 seconds... – egid Sep 04 '15 at 02:29
  • @Simon - is there a video of the israeli jet in flight or on the ground that you can link to? Ive never seen it! – Jamiec Sep 04 '15 at 11:02
  • @Jamiec the skeptics question has a video; not sure if any of the in flight portions were taken from another aircraft or were all reconstructions. Google has a number of pictures taken after it was on the ground: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slLKmtIKccs https://www.google.com/search?q=f15+1+wing&tbm=isch – Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight Sep 04 '15 at 11:21
  • @DanNeely - oh duh! You mean the question I answered. Of course ive seen the video. (I worry myself sometimes) – Jamiec Sep 04 '15 at 11:33
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    Carb heat and fuel management are far too much detail for someone who is not a pilot. – DJClayworth Jul 28 '17 at 17:01
  • I don't know about that, telling someone to pull the little knob out that says "carb heat" doesn't seem like that big a deal to me. – GdD Jul 28 '17 at 17:31
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Just thought I'd add an answer about "aviate", "navigate", "communicate" which is discussed somewhat in the comments and is a big part of what you should do.

It's simply a matter of dealing with the most important things in order.

Aviate - fly the aircraft (keep it flying) - if you fail to do this, it will almost certainly kill you.

Navigate - fly where you want to go. In this case, do as little as you have to to avoid obstacles, terrain and clouds. Don't worry about bimbling into controlled airspace - someone else will take care of it. Don't try to be clever and fly circuits or boxes or whatever. Without at least a few hours proper training, trying to navigate could well lead to you forgetting or failing to aviate. Not navigating away from clouds, obstacles etc is the second most likely thing to kill you.

Communicate - tell someone about it. Not doing this won't kill you but could stop you getting help with one and two not killing you.

Mayday on the frequency already tuned. Use the mnemonic "Rest In Peace Louis Hoy" if you can remember it. R for reason, I for intent. P for position, L for level (altitude), H for heading. If you can't handle it, a simple "mayday" will start the ball rolling. If all you say is the word "mayday" or "emergency", if anyone hears you, they will reply "station calling, say again" or "station calling, pass your message" or similar. This just means they got it, but don't know who you are. The conversation has started, let the person you're talking to do the work and ask questions as needed.

If no-one replies, and you can remember the frequency, tune 121.5 - the international distress frequency for VHF. Someone will hear that and quite likely be able to triangulate your position. Tuning the transponder to 7700 will also get a lot of attention.

Do not communicate, even if someone is calling you, if it takes your attention away from aviating and navigating. If you can, a simple "standby" in response will tell the caller all they need to know.

Sadly far too many people have died because they failed to follow this simple advice which has been proven over many, many years and 10s of thousands of urgent situations.

Remember. In the ongoing battle between the Earth and aircraft arriving in other than controlled conditions, the Earth has yet to lose.

Simon
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Step 1 not mentioned so far: keep the unconscious pilot from slumping forward into the controls. Their body pushing the yoke in would be a bad thing at this juncture. Cinch up on the shoulder harness and hang the flight bag strap or something similar on the pilot's forehead, with the bag hanging behind the seat.

Then do all the other things in the excellent answers here.

Many years ago I had my wife take a one-day course on exactly this scenario, called the Non-Pilot Pinch Hitters course. I don't know if it's still offered anywhere, but I found that AOPA has a flash version online. It is most important to familiarize your flying companion ahead of time (assuming it's not a dog) with the radio and how to keep the wings level.

Here is the checklist from the AOPA course:

pinch hitter checklist

Mark Adler
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Here's my guess as a non pilot.

You'd probably have to ask your friend in advance how exactly to do 3. I suspect doing 1 and 3 simultaneous will be taxing for anyone who hasn't flown a real aircraft.

You might want to know how to set the transponder (if present) and what code it should "squawk".

If the pilot passed out immediately after take-off before reaching cruise altitude, you might not want to maintain that flight level - there might be trees or hills ahead.

I think the pilot's order of priorities is aviate, navigate, communicate.

RedGrittyBrick
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  • Sounds wise ;) Let see what pilots have to add! – Quentin H Sep 03 '15 at 09:42
  • Yes, I read about that aviate, navigate, communicate. But here it will be more like aviate, cry for help, navigate... Since I'm not supposed to know where to go ahah – Quentin H Sep 03 '15 at 09:43
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    Navigate does not mean "where am I supposed to go" in this situation. Aviate - keep the plane flying; navigate - keep it flying where you need it to go - e.g. away from obstacles, towards a clear area etc; communicate - tell someone about it. Many have died because they did not do it in that order. – Simon Sep 03 '15 at 09:51
  • Regarding number 3, if you know how to do it in a flight sim, you probably know how to do it in a real airplane. It's not that hard. If the pilot already had the appropriate frequency tuned, it's literally as easy as just pressing the little button on the yoke in most light GA planes. Changing transponder codes is also as easy in real life as it is in a sim. You're right, though, that 1 can be a challenge at first if you've never done it in a real airplane before (assuming no auto-pilot.) – reirab Sep 03 '15 at 18:30
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The feel of the controls is one of the things that you will really have to get your head round really quickly if this is the first time you have touched them.

You don't move the controls you just apply a little bit of pressure, unlike a flight sim which has a totally unrealistic feel on the controls, and this alters with the airspeed of the aircraft. You have to be able to handle the aircraft quite precisely to be able to safely land, whereas most people even with flight sim experience take quite a few hours of instruction to be safe enough to go solo.

I read about a crash in the UK where the pilot was incapacitated and the passenger had been shown how to bail out. He couldn't get the hood open because it was heavy and the aircraft hit the ground with him clawing at the hood. All he needed to do was pull the stick back and he would have had more time.

I would say, feeling the controls, just try to get the aircraft level and under control and at a constant speed, will be more difficult than you think it might be, and also to stay calm so you can think and relate to what air traffic are saying. This is a lot easier said than done given that you are just about to die if you do something wrong.

Just a small thing like not already talking to air traffic and not knowing the emergency frequency (or not knowing where the transmit button is) could panic you and ruin your whole day, or pulling the mixture back instead of the throttle. There are loads of things that could go wrong in real life even though you can fly the sim through a keyboard.

On the other hand if you can reach the ground under control at the correct (slowest safe) speed - about 1.2 - 1.3 times the stall speed, you don't need to speak to anyone or do anything else, the chances are you could live, especially if you reach the ground on an airport where there are emergency services to extract you from the aircraft. But then, you might know the stall speed in the sim, how do you really know it in the real aircraft you are in at the time? None of this is as easy as you think!

Philip Johnson
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    Just thinking Quentin Hayot. If you really want to know how YOU would react in this situation, why not go to your local airport and book a half hour trial lesson? I am sure that most flying instructors would love to try this with you. Tell them what you would like to do and you want no comments or guidance whatsoever from the instructor at any point, and that you will have the de-brief after the flight rather than before. If you are flying safely, the instructor will let you land the plane. You won't be as scared as if it really happened, but I'd be very interested to hear how you get on :-) – Philip Johnson Sep 03 '15 at 19:26
  • That's a cracking suggestion! We could have a community whip round for it. I'd contribute to hear that experience. – Simon Sep 03 '15 at 19:32
  • I'll contribute too. I landed a full motion 737 simulator recently in a similar scenario and its the best thing I ever did, because there are plenty of more senior pilots saying a private pilot couldn't land an airliner safely. I was so pleased a) I booked it and b) that I lived... – Philip Johnson Sep 03 '15 at 19:38
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    So just to re-iterate my idea - tell your instructor to pretend he is air traffic, call for help, ask him what speed to fly etc etc, and tell him to pretend he is not there so he can't use his eyes only his ears, apart from to save both your lives that is... Exciting! – Philip Johnson Sep 03 '15 at 19:44
  • I had a 747 sim session last year. In a real training simulator. The instructor was in the right seat and was guiding me, but I managed to land it every time :) – Quentin H Sep 04 '15 at 08:40
  • @PhilipJohnson I'm not sure that an instructor will accept to do this if I never met him before haha ! But I'll definitely get my licence someday :) – Quentin H Sep 04 '15 at 08:42
  • @Quentin Hayout Instructors are all crazy! Of course they'll do it! :-) Seriously doing something different like this would really interest them! – Philip Johnson Sep 04 '15 at 08:49
  • @PhilipJohnson In France they are not that crazy ahaha – Quentin H Sep 04 '15 at 08:51
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    @QuentinHayot There is nothing crazy about it. It could be done in a completely safe manner. People are given the controls with no previous experience on every first lesson. – Simon Sep 06 '15 at 06:37
  • When I was... 8 maybe? I was given controls on a Cessna by a private pilot. Reading this thread reminded me of how touchy banking is. – Wayne Werner Sep 06 '15 at 13:02
  • Yes and even assuming you are in trim, if you bank and get adverse yaw and then decide you don't like banking and you are going to use the rudder instead... I can think of lots of things that could go wrong. For example you come into land (under instruction from the tower), put down 2 stages of flap and then decide you need to go around. You increase the power and then really have to push the control column forwards and hold it because the aeroplane is out of trim and its trying to climb too steeply by itself until you re-trim it. If you didn't push hard you could stall and crash... – Philip Johnson Sep 22 '15 at 12:05
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Having spent a lot of time on flight simulator, and having done an intro lesson, is a big factor in your favor, because you know how to steer, ascend, descend, and especially trim for speed. What you may not know is how to work the radio, how to tune to 121.5 and how to press the talk button (and most importantly, release it). Then the only other thing that might be new to you is landing. So if they guide you to a long, wide strip, aligned with the wind, all you have to do is "ride the slide", and pull the throttle when you get to the ground.

Mike Dunlavey
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This is a good question and your guesses make sense. I’m not a pilot but here is what I’d do (if the plane is small like you say):

A non pilot would definitely be overwhelmed by the controls and buttons and all their meanings. But if you have had some training you could manage. First thing to do would be to establish communications with ATC and explain to them that you are a non pilot who is now in charge. For this you’ll have to put on the pilot’s headset and use the mic button. Say something like “MAYDAY MAYDAY our pilot has passed out”, anyone hearing this would definitely assist (training on a simulator is a plus in this situation.) Gaining a little altitude to get good a good reception is also a good idea.

You could also try dialing 121.5 (aircraft emergency frequency ) and call for some help.

The aircraft emergency frequency (also known as guard) is a frequency used on the aircraft band reserved for emergency communications for aircraft in distress. The frequencies are 121.5 MHz for civilian, also known as International Air Distress (IAD) or VHF Guard, and 243.0 MHz for military use, also known as Military Air Distress (MAD) or UHF Guard. (Wikipedia)

But remember it all happens very fast I'm sure. If the person flying doesn’t screw up completely like touch down at 120 kt or stalling etc. landing would be survivable with minimum injuries to everyone.

Also take the help of five C's that have been devised for the pilots in distress:

In order to circumvent the effects of panic, the five C’s of aviation have been devised. The five C’s are: Confess, climb, conserve fuel, communicate and comply. (Source)

You can try keeping the aircraft clear of terrain, obstructions and densely populated area. Even if you couldn’t reach the ATC flying towards an open terrain or open water is the next best option (God forbid!).

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    If you're at cruise altitude, there's probably no reason to gain any altitude. You'll be able to hear people from a rather long way away at any reasonable cruise altitude. You're probably safest at your current altitude if you don't see terrain or a cloud directly in front of you. As far as touching down at 120 kt is concerned, that would actually be really hard to do in most light GA planes (at least if you define "touching down" as "touching down on the main gear.") You will gain altitude very quickly if you raise the nose at 120 KIAS in most light GA planes. – reirab Sep 03 '15 at 18:45
  • Well unless you're as dumb as I would have been until about last year and try to plant the nose wheel on the runway. – Joshua May 23 '17 at 22:19
  • @Joshua In fairness, if you're willing to confess your ignorance (which you already did, in a way, when you declared an emergency and said that you aren't a pilot), someone might even tell you up front without prompting to keep the nose a little high when you come in to land. A still-reasonable but somewhat nose-high attitude on landing (except for a taildragger) is probably better than setting the nose wheel onto the runway before the main wheels make contact. Once all of the wheels are on the ground, even if you don't even go straight, it's usually not a disaster (compared to crashing). – user Dec 13 '17 at 13:08
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  1. As much as possible, keep your hands off of the controls. A properly trimmed airplane will maintain straight and level flight. A human likely will not.

  2. Tune the radio to 121.5 and call mayday. 121.5 will be monitored everywhere there is any ATC activity.

  3. Follow the instructions of ATC.

  4. Use the trim and throttle to descend. During landing, the elevator (pull back and push forward on the wheel) controls airspeed, the throttle controls altitude. Trim the airplane and use the throttle to control descent. More/less trim may be required.

Dale Chatham
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  • A properly trimmed airplane won't necessarily stay straight. Keeping the wings level with the horizon is a good idea and not all that hard to do, even for the untrained and especially not for someone with a lot of flight sim experience (as the question states.) If you keep the wings level, though, then a properly trimmed plane will indeed maintain roughly the same altitude. If you let the wings start banking, you'll starting descending slowly, too. – reirab Sep 03 '15 at 18:53
  • Only if the problem happens in straight and level flight! – Simon Sep 03 '15 at 19:28