Hacker News Reader

Comment by orbital-decay | Hacker News Reader

>air traffic controllers were able to locate the plane on radar and walk the passenger through how to land the small plane

Are ATCOs actually trained for this kind of situation?

View on HN

Not really. The controller who helped was a flight instructor.

If there's one around (sometimes there is), they're usually the best option.

I've listened to a few recordings of similar situations online and if there's no flight instructor there, and the plane has enough fuel to keep circling for a while, they often call one up to come to the airport and help while keeping the amateur in a safe pattern until they arrive.

I think more typically (if there is such thing for these scenarios) atc tries get hold of some instructor or even a pilot it no instructor is found instead of instructing themselves.

One of the better snl's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGRcJQ9tMbY

As long as we're celebrating the Scottish accent:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqAu-DDlINs

Never gets old :-)

Oh imagine, the delights of the Banter, frozen in celluloid!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T5K1HxEBCU

Yes, in most cases, but also modern aircraft over the last 50 years has become very safe. The plane practically flies itself.

A Cessna Caravan airplane does not land itself. It's a thoroughly manual process. As a pilot, I'm in awe of the controller and passenger for being able to pull this off.

> The plane practically flies itself.

Personally, I would perhaps allow this turn of phrase in reference to take-off and cruising, depending on equipment and assuming VFR, but I'm not sure I would ever say this about LANDING any plane.

Source: I'm an occasional student-pilot.

Yeah but I thought takeoff and landing were the two parts that still required mostly manual control?

If the weather conditions are favorable, there isn't much needed. This would have been a very stable aircraft on its own. If the controls are setup properly in advance of the runway, it will descend and "land" with little input. In all likelihood they used a long approach, strait-in, to an airfield totally cleared of all other traffic. He would have had a strait shot in from many miles away.

The important decision was to keep him following the coastline. A random aircraft over florida land would be a nightmare to locate and deal with on radar, even if the transponder was functional. Keeping him following the coastline would have made the fix much simpler.

Autoland has been a (mostly emergency) feature for years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoland It might have been installed on the plane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-ruFmgTpqA

https://www.easa.europa.eu/community/topics/emergency-autola...

Autoland in a Caravan?!

Not necessarily, but pilots usually fly those manually because a) they’re the exciting parts b) a certain number of manual takeoffs/landings per year are required to stay certified. (EDIT: This was about airliners, a Cessna is definitely 100% manual!)

As far as I understand, takeoff and landing requires manual control in the same way, or for the same reason, Tesla autopilot requires hands on the wheel. It's mostly liability and trust issues.

I don't know if I'd call Cessna 208 particularly modern, it is 40 year old model

Reply on news.ycombinator.com