PAX Helps Land CO 757?!?

[pipe]

What if the check airman was just more comfortable in the left seat? Would that be a valid thought process for the seat swap?

If you're not comfortable in both seats, you got no business being a check airman.

PIPE

 

[airplane wizard]

How could someone who is not familier with the aircraft be of any help? I have a 757 afm and even the radios/audio panel is different than a typical ga plane. Unless maybe the captain new the pilot and trusted him. other than that I would think the pilot would want to land it himself.

 

[pipe]

How could someone who is not familier with the aircraft be of any help? I have a 757 afm and even the radios/audio panel is different than a typical ga plane. Unless maybe the captain new the pilot and trusted him. other than that I would think the pilot would want to land it himself.

A cool Captain would have given the guy the landing.

 

[Clavin]

A cool Captain would have given the guy the landing.

thats funny.

seriously, I can't believe this is any kind of big deal. Anyone flying the 757 for a major airline can land a 757 all by himself if he has to. Get your own flaps and your own gear. And if I had time, I would take the 3.5 seconds to move from the right seat to the left seat (even if I had never flown the 757 from the left seat...which I haven't) so I could have access to the tiller. I can't believe someone is saying that it would be unsafe to make that move with the seat empty and the autopilot on. Heck, even with no autopilot, as long as its trimmed up, the thing is going to fly straight and level whether there is a butt in the seat or not.

Except for the unfortunate death of the captain, this is a non-event.

 

[Stifler's Mom]

How could someone who is not familier with the aircraft be of any help? I have a 757 afm and even the radios/audio panel is different than a typical ga plane.

My first question would have been, "How do you adjust the daamn seat?"

 

[munson]

this has turned into a complete waste of a post. Seat switch...WHO CARES! I bet if something had happpened on landing that he needed to get to the tiller but was in the wrong seat, the same people would have been critical of him for NOT switching seats. This is rediculous...and im a fool for even adding to it. If you think its unsafe givin the conditions to be out of the seat for a few seconds with the autopilot on...i dont know what to tell you. Spend a little cash, rent a plane and go stretch her legs (that means dont fly just straight and level) out so you know what an aircraft is capable of.

 

[starvingredtail]

thats funny.

And if I had time, I would take the 3.5 seconds to move from the right seat to the left seat (even if I had never flown the 757 from the left seat...which I haven't) so I could have access to the tiller. I can't believe someone is saying that it would be unsafe to make that move with the seat empty and the autopilot on. Heck, even with no autopilot, as long as its trimmed up, the thing is going to fly straight and level whether there is a butt in the seat or not.

I think you are missing the point on the moving seat thing. The FAA view (as it was explained to me in training where we did many many seat swaps) is not that it can't be done--its that it should not be done. The concept is that things are already bad--why make them worse for no reason? You can fly and land from the seat you are in. That is the philosophy of the design of the airplane. In this business, things can go bad quickly. You are already in a bad situation when you lose the other crew member. I personally do not care that this check airman did this and it worked--but what if...................
happened and you found out from the tapes this guy was doing a solo seat swap? Would you be defending this practice in those circumstances? It really seems like it is the younger guys out there defending this and treating it like a non event.

 

[starvingredtail]

this has turned into a complete waste of a post. Seat switch...WHO CARES! I bet if something had happpened on landing that he needed to get to the tiller but was in the wrong seat, the same people would have been critical of him for NOT switching seats. This is rediculous...and im a fool for even adding to it. If you think its unsafe givin the conditions to be out of the seat for a few seconds with the autopilot on...i dont know what to tell you. Spend a little cash, rent a plane and go stretch her legs (that means dont fly just straight and level) out so you know what an aircraft is capable of.

The FAA cares and the manufacturer cares and the 150 people in the back would have cared if XXX had happened while no one was at the controls. Please let me know what could have happened on the ground where you needed the tiller vs what could have happened in the air with no one at the controls. You are a fool because you can not spell. Go spend some money and rent a 152 and loop it a few times, you know--stretch her legs a little just so you know what "she" is capable of. When we read about you in the paper after the wings come off we will shake our heads and be glad you did not take anyone with you.

 

[PositionandHold]

I'm less concerned about the seat swap and more interested in why the guy decided it was a good idea to call in a private pilot and scare everyone in the process to land an airplane he's trained to land by himself. Airplane has TCAS, and if traffic avoidance was that much of an issue, an FA could do the job as well as any 150hr private pilot. Same thing with reading a checklist.

But then, that's just what went through my head when I read it and I don't have the experience or qualifications to judge the guy, so I was hoping that instead of spending 4 pages on seat swapping, we could discuss this a bit more.

 

[Stifler's Mom]

I'm less concerned about the seat swap and more interested in why the guy decided it was a good idea to call in a private pilot and scare everyone in the process to land an airplane he's trained to land by himself. Airplane has TCAS, and if traffic avoidance was that much of an issue, an FA could do the job as well as any 150hr private pilot. Same thing with reading a checklist.

But then, that's just what went through my head when I read it and I don't have the experience or qualifications to judge the guy, so I was hoping that instead of spending 4 pages on seat swapping, we could discuss this a bit more.

I can only think that when they paged for a "pilot" they were thinking along the lines of maybe a non-rev CAL or Jetlink pilot in the back.