Brown trouser moments for "trainee pilot" - Falkirk Bairn
Tuesday evening:-
A plane passenger has made an emergency landing after the pilot became ill and unable to operate the controls.
Emergency services gathered at Humberside Airport, north Lincolnshire, yesterday evening after the passenger in the light aircraft had to land it with the help of two instructors from the ground, an airport spokesman said.
Brown trouser moments for "trainee pilot" - Fursty Ferret
>> Stuart Sykes said he saw the aircraft land at about 19:50 BST.
>>
>> "It came down with a bump, a bump, a bump, hit the front end down,
>> I heard some crashing and it's come to a halt," he told BBC Look North.
Brown trouser moments for "trainee pilot" - Cliff Pope
It must depend a lot on what sort of plane. When you see a picture of the cockpit of a jumbo jet you wonder how on earth you would ever learn what everything does.
But when I once went up as a passenger in a two-seater, there were actually hardly any controls at all. It had dual controls, so I had a go for a few minutes. Basically there was the lever you pull or push or move sideways to steer or go up and down, like the Street View button, and an accelerator.
The important thing apparently was not to go too slowly when coming in. Cut the speed to about 80 mph, come in low-ish over the last hedge, ease it down onto the ground, then throttle back and pull the lever as if to climb, which pushes the tail down hard onto the ground. Then hope it stops before the next hedge.
No brakes. It felt a bit like driving alanovic's old Wolseley at 80 along a cart track.