Originally published at: The commentary after this passenger landed a plane with a passed-out pilot is superb | Boing Boing
…
10 Likes
Literally, playing a video game saved a plane load of passengers. You can’t make this up!
I worry that Fox News will emphasize how offended they are at his swear words. The term “ghetto” will be part of their commentary. The kid landed a plane in an emergency, making a presumably white pilot look bad, so how else can they smear him?
27 Likes
Yes, my young friend, you are the captain now.
31 Likes
“I put on the ear thingies and I told the people, look, I’m the captain now.”
Noice.
Well done, young sir!
31 Likes
Awww, jinx!
19 Likes
I want you in politics. You represent the best of young people everywhere. Looking at your world and actively taking a part of its destiny, you’re what the world needs!
17 Likes
This is hilarious. But the commentary is made up.
Here’s the real audio from the incident. Listen: Passenger forced to land plane at Palm Beach airport after pilot falls unconscious - YouTube
33 Likes
Yeah, he was swearing. That’s a dead giveaway it was faked commentary by the supposed “passenger.” No local news station would have allowed that on the air.
Still a nicely done fake, though.
24 Likes
21st century Jeff Spicoli.
5 Likes
Thank you.
I was so hopeful for the next generation, but it makes a lot more sense that an adult was the one to take control.
10 Likes
It’s difficult to know the scale of the achievement here - given that I know the basic mechanics of flying a plane, like push forward to go down, pull back to go up, etc, what are my odds of successfully landing a small plane on the first try? Is this a 1 in a million or a 1 in 100 kind of event or what? I think probably most people know how the stick works but like I have no idea what to do with the flaps or the rudder or any of that. I found myself wondering if I’d even be able to figure out how to contact someone on the radio.
6 Likes
There is a button to operate the radio on the stick/yoke. The likelihood is that there is someone listening but this isn’t a certainty. If there is, that’s cool.
If not, emergency frequency is 121.5 but you would need to know this already and also need to know how to tune the radio to that frequency. If you do, that’s cool.
If not, you are unlikely to be able to teach yourself how to fly in the available time unless there is someone there to talk you through it.
Most people’s idea of how aircraft are controlled is only barely approximate. If you ever do find yourself in that situation, keeping above the stall speed of the aircraft (about 50 knots for light aircraft) is crucial.
The forward back motion of the stick for up and down is true for aerobatic stuff, but you’ll want to be very very gentle so forget about that.
To go up, gently push the throttle forward, To descend, gently pull the throttle back. You’re doing just fine now!
There are pedals to yaw left or right, but you’re flying really gently so they’re not very important and modern aircraft should fly fine without them. You can steer (gently) with the stick - left for left, right for right. This is about the only thing that works as you expect.
Last thing is speed control. This is the one weird trick. The speed (and speed is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING) is controlled unintuitively by the stick. Gently pull back on the stick and the aeroplane will climb a little and reduce its speed until it reaches equilibrium. Push the stick forward gently and the 'plane will descend slightly and accelerate until equilibrium
So, speed is controlled with the stick and up and down is controlled with the throttle. Not what you’ve been lead to believe.
There is a trim wheel to reduce the pressure on the stick - your controller on the radio will tell you all about that. If you don’t have a controller, you can probly fly without using it but you’ll get tired. Basically roll the wheel in the direction you are putting pressure on the stick, until the stick is nice and light. With the aircraft in trim, it can be flown hands off and will happily do so until you tell it to do something else.
So now you’re in control. Slow to about 60 or 70 knots, look for somewhere flat ahead of you and begin descending gently. If it’s not going right, just push the throttle forward and you’ll start to climb.
If you have a controller, they will tell you to reduce speed and deploy your flaps. Sometimes there’s a switch, sometimes it’s a lever like a car handbrake. This essentially gives you lift at lower speeds reducing the stall speed. However, you’ll need to readjust the stick, trim wheel and throttle pretty smartly so if you have plenty of room to land like a freeway or a long long runway, you can land without faffing about with the flaps.
Basically, get the aeroplane set up nicely in a slow descent at about 60 knots and fly it onto the ground. Ideally you should flare (pull back on the stick just above the ground) but this is your first time so just reduce your descent as you get near the ground and you’ll be fine.
Once you’re down and rolling pull the throttle all the way back, kill the ignition and battery and steer with the rudder pedals.
The brakes are at the top of the rudder pedals. There’s a left one and right one so they can be used to steer, use them gently if you have to, but just roll to a stop if you can.
27 Likes
It seems like this is a whole TikTok genre, where people edit themselves into news stories with amusing “eyewitness commentary”? I’ve seen this a few times, when the videos get put in other contexts where that’s not so obvious and people think they’re real.
8 Likes
Ok, I’m two paragraphs in and already dead.
15 Likes
Thanks! Now to take a series of flights on small aircraft until my services are needed??
2 Likes
“So I run to the cockpit, and homey is passed the fuck out.”
There is no separate cockpit. There’s no aisle in that small single engine plane to run down. It’s all a joke.
IMHO, these tiktokers are all about fucking with people who believe everything they see. *stares at a lot of the comments in this thread"
11 Likes
Yeah, that commentary sounds like a middle-aged guy to me. Certainly an adult
3 Likes
There’s an interview with the dude in this thread above
2 Likes
Bookmarking this in case I need to refer to it during an emergency /s
10 Likes
Yeah, I saw that; he looks younger than I expected.
