Is there a pilot on board?

IS THERE A PILOT ON BOARD?

revised April, 2012

It's every junior pilot's fantasy. You just settle down to eat your in-flight meal when there is a cabin announcement. "Excuse me Ladies and Gentlemen. Please don't be alarmed. I'm making this request only as a courtesy to our flight crew. Is there a pilot on board? If so, would you please press the call button over your seat? Once again, please do not be alarmed, the aircraft and the crew are perfectly safe. We are asking this question only as a professional courtesy. Thank you."

You glance around and don't see any hands flying up to press the overhead call buttons. What's happening? The flight has been smooth so far, and certainly nothing unusual has happened in the last ten minutes or so.

You do a self-examination. You have plenty of flight simulator time, and a few hours flying right seat with your buddy Jim in his 172, but you aren't a licensed pilot. Minutes pass by. There has been no traffic going up to the front office. A Flight Attendant passes by. "Excuse me Miss, have you located any pilots on board." "No, we haven't." She replies, "Are you a pilot?" "Not exactly. But I do have experience." "I'll be right back." She walks forward and talks with who you think is the Senior Flight Attendant. In a minute, she returns and says, a little louder than you think is necessary, "The flight crew is requesting that if any pilots are on board that they are welcome to make a professional visit to the cockpit. Follow me please."

She unlocks the door to the front office and motions you inside, closing and locking the door behind her. The scene that is in front of you momentarily numbs your heart. The First Officer is slumped in his chair, his head tilted down on his chest. The Captain is on the floor, facing upwards, his face a pale blue. The Flight Attendant grabs a fist full of your shirt and shouts "Can you fly this plane?"

Well, there's your fantasy come true, right before your very eyes. What happened to the crew? For the purposes of this story we'll leave that open. The bottom line is that there is no one else on board that can help. You are the best shot that this flight has.

Let's leave the type of aircraft involved in this discussion open too. It could be a Boeing 747, it could be an Airbus A300.

You're so far in above your head that it doesn't matter.

What would you do?

If it's any help, I'm not so sure either. I've got thousands of hours flying airplanes, but they're all of the General Aviation variety, the largest being the 4-engined de Havilland Heron. And that doesn't even come close to a Transport Category aircraft. So, having said that, let's speculate together.

First things first. Sit down in the left-front chair. If the First Officer's chair is occupied, as it is in our example, remove him. Communicate with the Senior Flight Attendant. Explain your position, and your experience level. Nip any potential panic among the remaining crew in the bud. The passengers behind you don't know what is going on, but they'll pick up on it soon enough. You want "your" staff to be together in this. You'll have to make an announcement to the passengers, but wait for a few minutes so that you can give them some valid information.

Ask the Senior Flight Attendant, or the crew member of her choice, to stay in the front office with you. Ask them to sit in the right seat so that they can help you out.

Don't touch anything. Look around. After a short period of being totally overwhelmed, you'll start seeing familiar items. Right in front of you will be the familiar "T formation": the airspeed indicator, the attitude indicator, the altimeter, and the Horizontal Situation Indicator. It doesn't matter if it's a 747 or Concorde, gauges or CRT's, the "T" will be there. This is what really matters, and that's why they are a standard configuration. Hopefully, this will give you comfort.

Look around on the panel. Is there an aircraft number? "NUA763" for example. Ask the Attendant that is staying with you what the flight number is.

Now, look for the radios- the communications ones. There will be at least two of them. Look for a switch that says something like "Transmit: Comm. 1, Comm. 2." That's the switch that controls which radio you'll be talking over. It doesn't make any sense to dial in a frequency in Comm. 1, and then transmit over Comm. 2. Find the headset and put it on. Look around on the control wheel. Somewhere, usually on the left side, there will be a "PTT" button, a "Push To Talk" switch. Press it down, hold it down, and speak into the microphone.

(Radio communications frequencies change as you fly along from sector to sector. The odds are that the frequency that is already dialed in will function. If it doesn't, verify which Comm. radio is selected and then dial in the emergency frequency, 121.5.)

"Center, Flight 155 declaring an emergency." There, you said it. In fact, when you put on the headset, you may already hear Center calling you because the flight has been off of the air for some time. Center will respond right away, trust me. "Flight 155 state the nature of your emergency."

Talk normal. Use plain language, keep it simple. Remember, no matter where you are in the world, English is the standard for aviation. If you are not comfortable with English, use your native tongue. Center will find someone that speaks your language.

Now, here's where it gets into real speculation. But, on the other hand, this whole tutorial is pure speculation. Center will find a pilot from the carrier that you are on that knows your airplane. It may be a temporary thing like another flight that is airborne, but eventually they will find a guy just for you. And, they will also find a discrete radio frequency for you to communicate on.

Then, it will be just you and "the expert". He'll want to know about you, your abilities, the aircraft's fuel status, number of souls (a term that always bothered me) on board, etc. Then a plan will be formed. Taking account your fuel on board, an airport (probably military) will be chosen and you will be directed to it. "The expert" will go over aircraft performance and systems with you.

Now is a good time to let those folks in the back know what's going on. Personally, I would get together with the Flight Attendant sitting in the right seat and concoct the biggest lie that I've ever told in my life.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a situation on board. The Captain and the First Officer have both become incapacitated, and are unable to continue their duties. Fortunately, we have an experienced pilot from another airline on board, "Your Name". While Captain "Your Name" is not familiar with this particular model, he will be able to safely land the aircraft. We will be diverting to a new destination shortly. I will keep you posted of our status. If there is a Doctor on board, please press the call button above your seat. Please return to your seats, and fasten your safety belts."

Why lie? Why not? There's nothing that they can do back there to help out in this situation. Ignorance is bliss. Honesty, in this situation, could cause panic- you, and the Attendants, have enough problems right now.

And, there's always the chance that if there is a Doctor on board that he might be able to revive one of the pilots to the point that they could fly the aircraft, assist, or at least give you advice on controls and procedures.

And finally, the Big Question: Could you safely land the airplane? Personally, I think that you could. If the aircraft has "auto-land" then your odds are definitely increased. If it doesn't, then you still could pull it off. The landing gear might be removed in the process, you may slide off of the runway, but your chances are a whole lot better than cruising along until fuel exhaustion.

And it would be the experience of a lifetime.

Interestingly, an entrepreneur has published a laminated "emergency check list" for this situation.

See: http://www.checkmateaviation.com/Products/E_S_P_/e_s_p_.html

This tutorial is available on a CD

This tutorial, along with additional content, is available on a CD. Click here for more information.

(This article was written after a suggestion by Antonio Moroni.)

Hal Stoen
October, 2001

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Revised, 2/23/2008: Corrected the word "discreet" to "discrete." Thanks to Alan Larson for pointing this out.

Revised, 12/27/2008: Corrected the word "defiantly" to "definitely." Thanks to Patrick Insko for pointing this out.