I'm not a pilot. Can I land a 737? 

For the folks who've seen Joe Hanson's video: we had the same idea at about the same time, and he got his out first! I caught up with Joe a few weeks ago at a conference, gave him a heads up, and we're all good.

"Tom I need you to listen carefully. It's not actually a simulator. We put you in an actual 737 through a secret door"

Tom is now qualified to be a pilot for Ryanair.

“Yes Tom, while it is a simulator, the part we didn’t tell you is that due to new stringent guidelines regarding hyperrealism, if you crash, the simulator will actually explode”

imagine placing a friend in a simulator like this while they are sleeping and they just wake up in a plane alone with the cockpit door locked

Very interesting to see that Tom almost immediately seems to forget it's a simulator, and genuinely seems to panic.

I have to say I don't even mind this sponsorship way. It was straight to the point, honest and didn't intrude much. Thank you

“Tom, listen very carefully, you are remotely controlling a real 737”

I like how Tom is in the co-pilot seat because hes used to British driving

Chuck Yeager once said “if you can walk away from a landing, it’s a good landing”. So by that metric this was a good landing, but it’d be impressive if Tom crashed a simulator so badly he didn’t walk away.

"if you clicked on this thinking that someone had miraculously given an idiot an actual jumbo jet to land.. no" The genuine blunt explanation is why we love you Tom.

"Standby, flying" whilst it appears (and is) funny, shows surprisingly good airmanship from Tom. Flying the aircraft is should always be the number one priority. It sounds obvious, but when you have ATC calling you, alarms or notifications going off, and perhaps most worryingly - no idea where you are - it can be difficult to focus on keeping the plane in the air.

Not enough people are talking about how knowledgable, concise and nice that other bloke is. Great video made great by both Tom and Petter.

Tom has made a living from going through his bucket list. Respect.

The only reason that this even remotely worked, is Tom's communication skills. I've seen very few people control their communication so well in stressful situations as Tom does.

Once after a particularly bumpy landing (for a normal commercial flight), our pilot got on the intercom and told everyone that was a great landing! Because "a good landing is one where everyone walks away safely, and a great landing is one where everyone walks away safely and you can reuse the plane again." I propose that Tom's (second) landing was an okay landing: one where you crashed, but you crashed exactly where you were expected to

"The plane is breaking up, repeate plane is breaking up, the wings have fallen off, the fuselage just split in two, there are fires in the cockpit" "Disregard, that's to be expected Tom, please set flaps to 30 and bring velocity down to 130 knots"

Tom’s “stand by, flying” had me chuckling. Even with him panicking it’s a perfect demonstration of Aviate, Navigate, Communicate. That said that landing attempt should really have been a go around. Great collab, nice work Tom!

I like how Tom didn't even mention that he literally flew a plane blind for a little bit.

This should be a part of pilot training imo. Being able to coach someone down would really test their ability to apply the knowledge theyve learned while not actually being in front of the controls in a really unique way. I learned a while ago that you know you really understand something when you can explain it to someone who has absolutely 0 knowledge of the thing and they walk away with a decent understanding.

Kudos for that "I just want to with you both good luck, we're all counting on you" reference. Sheer brilliance.

Can we get a heart monitor for Tom on videos like this? I would love to see his heartrate on different aspects such as approach to landing.

Every time he said "that's normal" I felt like he could have been lying just to keep Tom from falling apart in a panic.

"do you see the button that says CMD?" "Yes I do!" *Reaches for it* "Don't push it, that controls the autopilot" *Tom yanks his hand back as far as possible*

As a 737 autopilot myself. I can say you did a great job!

For those who've seen Joe Hanson's similar video: yep, we filmed the same idea at about the same time, and he got his video out much earlier! I met Joe a few weeks ago, gave him a heads up, and we're all good.

I'm actually really impressed by this. Not just being able to follow the instructions - the "Standby, flying" as others have pointed out was absolutely perfect. Getting the priorities straight. Tom also communicated really well by the end. Clear and concise messages. He did include a lot of information that wasn't all that important at the time, but he didn't know that. What information he did communicate, he communicated efficiently. That's better than some private pilots I hear on the radio ;)

As a 747 passenger I must say you did a great job 👍

Even in a simulator, the words "Im going to land on the taxiway, theres no way i can make the runway" are terrifying.

Tom: "THE PLANE IS SPINNING INTO A NOSEDIVE, THERE IS MASSIVE WIND NOISE, BITS ARE FALLING OFF, EVERYONE IS SCREAMING" Mentour: "yep, that's completey normal, you can disregard that, now set the altitude knob to 3000"

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1269">21:09</a> Tom actually exhibits one of the key principles of flying: Aviate, (then) Navigate, (then) Communicate. Priority 1 is always flying your plane safely Priority 2 is knowing where you’re going Priority 3 is communicating

I think it shows how intense and stressful flying a plane can be that someone as level headed and rational as Tom literally forgot he was in a simulator for a bit!

Hi Tom. I have spend many years flying in sim, including a very realistic PMDG simulator for the 737. I friend of mine is a training captain like Petter and he gave me the chance to have a go in an identical simulator to that one.....but with me doing everything, from starting the aircraft (electrics, hydraulics, engines) to taxiing, take off and landing and you are right - it is incredible how utterly believeable it is.

Cannot begin to express how much joy i felt in seeing tom silently yelling about not knowing what he's supposed to be look at

As a 737 pilot myself, I can tell you that your touchdown was actually a bit hard indeed but wouldn't have been a crash landing by itself, these simulators are unable to simulate off-runway landings and it gave you a crash visual because you landed partly on the grass. Great job !

As a pilot the best lesson I learned about landing and descent is that nose pitch controls airspeed and engine power controls descent. This is the opposite that most people understand.

Somehow two of my favorite content makers did a collaboration of everything I love. Thanks guys! You quite honestly made my day.

"I just want to say good luck, we're counting on you". Absolute legend for that quote!

As a pilot this is hilarious to watch. Absolutely loved it.

At least the doors never fell off

Just finished training a new guy at our refinery, and so much of that training was about just getting the basics right, and allowing the more advanced stuff to come later on the job. Note, it was a full 3 months training for the position, and in my own experience, still 1 year on the job to get fully experienced. Anyway, I'm so going to show him this, so he knows whatever mistakes he makes, he isn't gonna land a 737 on the taxiway. No shade on the guy making the attempt, he did as good as most could be expected.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1256">20:56</a> The way the editing of the second attempt had the flight path jumping all over the place with every cut was comedy gold.

It is super cool how mentour pilot is super chill and has time to explain stuff to tom, but tom is panicking because he forgets that it is just a simulator!

That was amazing, I was at the edge of my seat the entire video, very very well done, glad that Its you doing the piloting because you're quite a smart fellow! and good at communicating! keep it up :)

You both seem so happy , I'm glad you enjoyed yourselves. Great job Tom✈️✈️✈️

As somebody who has had limited flying experience, I'm thoroughly impressed by not only the communication skills between Tom and Pettier, but also Tom despite panicking having his priorities straight with the principles of Aviate, Navigate, Communicate. Telling Pettier to stand by so he could fly the plane shows this very well.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1269">21:09</a> “Standby, flying…” Despite the stress, panic, and information overload, Tom still manages to crack out lines like this. Brilliant 😂

As a person designing the visual, just on military simulators not civil, I can say this to everyone discussing microsoft flight simulator or the realism of the outside world: visual realism outside for simulators is not at the top of the requirement list. Landmarks, treelines, waterways that are used as reference are required (decided based on pilot/instructor request) and the airport is modelled where everything fits the current real airport but outside of that, it is way more important to model the materials of everything and the height profiles (for military sims, doubly so, especially materials since there is a lot more instrumentation on both the platform itself and its weapon systems that reacts to it). The visual system gets constant upgrades normally. Enough about that, the beauty of the simulators is that they are certified in the same way as the real aircraft are - every button, switch, alarm etc. needs to match its real life counterpart 1 to 1 (in milliseconds sometimes). Everything in that cockpit feels, reacts and gives the same feedback as in real life. The other nice thing about simulators is that you can practice every dangerous scenario possible in them without risking anything and it being a valid indicator of your pilot's readiness. It also cuts a lot of emissions and saves costs for training that would otherwise cost hundreds of millions if not billions. PS: the visual side of things changes now too as possibilities to integrate gaming technology visuals with the complex requirements of these simulators exist

I was desperate for someone to make an Airplane! joke, and Petter did not disappoint me.

I never thought I'd see the day Tom Scott partnered with Mentour Pilot

Tom, now go into an Air Traffic Control Simulator

This guy does a great job explaining everything.

Fantastic having both of you creating together! Bravo!

As someone with horrible flight anxiety, I wish I could have Petter's voice in my ear going "yep yep perfectly normal" the entire time 😅

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="343">5:43</a> imagine if that was actually an ejector seat... Tom just disappearing out the top totally unprepared would be the funniest thing ever 😂😂

I used to manage and operate an FNPT II sim for a training institute and we used to have the occasional 'tourist'(non-pilot) try it out and one common trait that is a dead giveaway of a complete lack of training and experience is the urgency in their tone and the over-reading of checks and confirmations - perfectly demonstrated here. Something happens in the brain of every aviator during pilot training where you unavoidably develop a calmness and familiarity with the environment that comes through in your communication, its not by design its just something that inevitably happens, this is why when I fly commercial (in the back with the civvy's) if the Cpt or FO sound over eager or urgent I want to get off.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1269">21:09</a> Petter: Can you tell me what your readout on the FMA says please. Tom: Stand by I'm flying. Aviate, Navigate, Communicate.

As a 737 Captain myself, I can say that you did a fantastic job!

I love how Tom kept forgetting it's a simulator and genuinely went into a panic at times. You can hear how loud his voice becomes at times.

It's awesome seeing both of you in the same video!

LOVE Mentour Pilot!! Great collaboration 👌

You have NO IDEA how happy I was to see Mentour Pilot’s involved in this video.

I'm actually using this video as training material for new starters on an ISP help desk. The guidance showed by Petter is exemplary, especially how he explains what's going to happen next to help put the Tom's mind at ease. Tom being genuinely petrified also helps here - he really does forget that he's in a simulator!

I was absolutely terrified just watching it. Well done for keeping your cool!

I like the way he handles encouragement. He's a good teacher

Petter's channel is excellent, and he does super analysis of accidents. One thing that he highlights often is the confusion caused by task saturation when things are going wrong. I think Tom demonstrates this well, when on the "easy level" Petter has to remind him that if his speed was 290 knots and it is now 260 knots, then yes it is reducing.

I never would have guessed that autopilot could land. I imagined it was mostly just keeping you in line and at speed.

As an Airbus pilot, I think the hardest part to manage if you have no experience, is the energy management on the descent, to be at the correct altitude and speed for the approach. In real life, often air traffic control will give a short cut so you can quickly end up too high and fast. The autopilot still needs input from the pilot. Also autoland is designed for low visibility when you cannot see the runway. It does not work in high winds. 99% of the landings I have done are manual.

Check the bolts are tight on the doors has just been added to preflight.

The "last bit" being super busy is a perfect demonstration of why a stabilised approach is so important - you have enough to do even when you're already in the right position and at the right speed etc, so if you add in an unstable approach to that it just becomes overwhelming even for an experienced pilot...

glad to see our CAE simulators in action. Very nice video!

"I just want to tell you good luck, we're all counting on you" was the perfect reference for Petter to make at that moment

Great collaboration. Petter makes fantastic content and I highly recommend his channel to any nervous fliers or those interested in aviation. He makes very fun and easy to understand breakdowns

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1268">21:08</a> "STANDBY, FLYING" The polite way to say "I AM CONCENTRATING WAY TOO HARD TO PAY ATTENTION TO YOU RIGHT NOW"

That was so much fun. Thanks for sharing

Love Petter! A pilots perspective on plane disasters

This just made me realize how marvelous a piece of engineering a commercial jetliner really is.

Couldn't have been two better RU-vidrs. An instructor who makes a living telling disaster stories and what went wrong. And a humble RU-vidr that constantly questions his abilities and can genuinely start to forget hes in a simulator

This looks scary but also so fun! As someone who has a fear of flying i would love to attempt something like this!

Brilliantly done. More!

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="640">10:40</a> Actually Tom it said "plus 100", not "flare", Petter inadvertently primed you to report "flare". This is an amazing example of the strange things humans do under stress, even simulated stress! I so badly want to teach you to fly on RU-vid 🤣

“Standby flying” got me good, but It did follow the first rule of fly the aircraft first. Great video really good watch.

I just realized this is mentor pilot. I recently got really into his channel. Super freaking good content by a really smart, personable dude.

great content as always Tom

I had to pause and say that the cut at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="224">3:44</a> between Petter being calm and Tom freaking out was hilarious.

I love how every time the camera switches back to Petter's radar screen, the wiggly line showing Tom's path gets more and more erratic!

I once had an amazing experience in the full motion flight sim as a simmer and although I didn't nail it, the instructor was quite impressed with my manual landing. Smooth and dead center. I had a little trouble with steering on the ground though. I'd love to do that again but this time in a real 737 simulator! Tom, next time: GO AROUND and try again hahaha!

If there's one thing I've learned from watching aviation channels (74 Gear, in particular), it's to, "Aviate, Navigate, Communicate," and Tom did that spectacularly <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1272">21:12</a> This had me on the edge of my seat! Great video!

On your second attempt I was thinking "Go Around! Go Around!" Something Mentor Pilot emphasizes when the landing is not going well. How fun for you to get such an experience of trying to land an airliner.

I absolutely love when he's told to look just below the glare shield, and it cuts to him looking around confused, he doesn't have any audio, but you can see him say "what's a glare shield"

Wow, such a collaboration! 🔥🔥🔥

What a video, and from two of my favourite RU-vid channels!!

Thank you for the clarification at the beginning. I was getting a little worried

"A passenger would never get through the cockpit door." I think LPL might have a chance!

I loved the reference to "Airplane!" "I just want to tell you 'Good luck. We're counting on you.' " 🤣🤣🤣

OMG IM subbed to this guy, his videos are extremely informative to geeks like me who are fascinated by airplanes. Love this!! ❤

I love the "Airplane!" "we're all counting on you..." line. Surely, you can't be serious!

My favourite part was how calm Petter was talking whilst looking at a map showing you waltzing above the Irish Sea.

Impressive attempt, Tom! Flying a simulator, I learned a lot about how the 737 works. As a private pilot, this is really helpful.

Remember: You can always abort landing, go around and try it again. Don't force it unless it's engine failure or you are in a glider. Nice in-panic-communication from both: clear, good tempo, read back...