Testing If Passengers Can Land an Airliner Without a Pilot 

This is every phone call with my mother explaining how to print an email.

Dude in the glasses should never be allowed on a plane, just in case someone’s needed to land it..😂😂

henry struggling to understand how headings wrap back to 0 after 359 😂

Anyone else screaming at the screen "Henry noooo" ha ha. Well done guys, that was great fun to watch.

Every flight sim nerd gonna be laughing at this 😂

God i hope im never on a place in an emergency with Henry on board

Flight simers would appreciate this opportunity sooooo much more! What a dream it would be.

The girl in the video needs to get a pilots licence, she was so calm.

6:01 every pilot watching's heart rate went up

Fortunately the pilots were able to set up the approach in the MCDU before they keeled over, great job by all 4 of you. Next video is Autopilot off at 1000 ft 😀

This clearly shows the absolutely incredible technology that is present in these planes. Apart from the incredible stress, this is what it takes.

What annoys me is when people act like they know stuff and then mess it up worse than expected

I would love to do this (in the simulator obviously) I'm a keen flight sim enthusiast. I love flying the study level Fenix A320. I have spent tonnes of hours learning how to set up the aircraft from cold and dark and can (fairly) confidently fly entire flights. Fun fact: when you pull out those knobs, it's changing that setting from 'managed mode' to 'selected mode'. The latter is you telling the aircraft's FMGC (flight management guidance computer) to override the pre programmed information and tell what the autopilot to do manually.

Imagine this but on IFR conditions, mountainous terrain, no auto land. I think results would be a bit different hahaha. Great video!

Fantastic video, Sunny, Matt and Henry great job and Mark you can be my wingman any time😂. Martin and Andy an absolutely brilliant production bravo.

i literally cried when the last one touched down after making a critical mistake.

Henry sounding like a goddamn robot

I like how the guy has concluded he might be twisting the wrong knob, but he just keeps twisting announcing that he’s twisting it as though that won’t have catastrophic consequences lol

They would never even figure out how to communicate with the tower to begin with

That raised my heart rate! Brilliant! 😃

Absolutely amazing video guys. Awesome production too, was hooked from start to finish 😁👍🏻👍🏻

What an awesome video!! Loved every minute of it

To be fair, the auto land system landed the sim. Put them in a C172 trainer.

As a flight simmer with about a million hours, i'm always waiting for the moment to be called to the cockpit lol

Loved this so much haha I'm impressed!!

What a ride this was. Nooo Henry 😅 lol. Fantastic content guys.

Awesome video! I would love to know how the passengers would react if they had to establish radio contact first without help from the crew.

Most passengers would not be able to figure out how to operate the radios to contact air traffic control. They would have no idea what frequency to call, and it could take a long time before they could contact anyone for assistance.

I like how they always do these tests on airbuses because they’re so automated and easy normal civilians would have hell on a boeing aircraft like the 737😭😭

That last guy trollin’ on 100%

Absolutely brilliant. 👍🏻

Great pilot directing the newbie! Fascinating video, thanks!

Henry needs to be kicked out of the cockpit 😂

Our PMDG 737 flight simulators give you a realistic ability to do this for sure. I was fortunate enough to be able to experience one of these real simulators and the aircraft can indeed practically and realistically land itself given the right inputs and button pushes. Good instruction is definitely necessary and the technology is so advanced these days. Great job and video! Watch some of the flight simmers on RU-vid handle some of these sim aircraft. (Myself Included) VERY REALISTIC and close enough to the real thing for you to get at least the general idea of some of the skills and knowledge necessary to be a real pilot. Real Pilots are amazing, hard working, very knowledgeable and trained in so many things us sim guys DON'T ever do and get all of us safely and reliably around the world. Say THANK YOU to the next real pilot you have the opportunity to encounter, and I hope to see you on one of my flight sims!

This is why I will always volunteer myself, even with my disability and reduced clarity in my speech. It is essential in critical situations that we adhere to 3 way repeat and read back. If you're into football this is why during the infamous Liverpool v Tottenham game at the beginning of the 23/24 season, Simon Hooper the on field referee and VAR Darren England got it so wrong, none of them, partly due to poor PGMOL protocols, confirmed what was actually happening, nether of them stated what was being checked, or repeated/questioned what was being checked, there was a lot of "yes mate's" said while both assumed they were talking about the same thing when in fact it was the complete opposite. It's worth listening to the dialogue even if you're not into football to understand the importance communication and repeating information so all parties know they are on the same page. This is why Henry struggled throughout, yes or affirmative alone has no meaning, nor did it give Cpt Mark any feedback so he could've been in a better position to correct or aid Henry, and for Mark, he should have worded it so retarder was earlier in the landing dialogue, "when you hear retarder, and only when you hear, these are the controls you operate...", I think with Matt and Sunny the instructions must've been clearer, but if Henry had done a read back before his actions, despite the radio interference, the potential problematic error, depending on the airport approach could've been avoided. I do think it really matters who the assistant is though, they need to be calming, personable and have clarity with giving instructions. Anyone who has given family members tech support over the phone knows the struggle, I always ask do you see this, what did you just do, especially when I'm getting no feedback, so I can keep track of the steps taken. Every person training to help land a plane should have to do "family member remote tech assistance", if they can survive that ordeal, they'll be fine helping a rando land a plane haha.

Granted i have more than average hours playing flight simulator, but I landed a B1 bomber in the training simulator at an air force base (my friend's dad was in charge of the simulator towards the end of his long AF career). He set me up for a straight in approach after flying around for a bit to get a feel for everything, but i nailed it. Afterwards, I saw my approach path vs the ideal path on his computer screen and i was stayed on it the entire time and rolled out smoothly. I only brag because i know full well that i had no chance of landing without lots of help and setup with perfect conditions.

Fantastic watch! Thank you!

I knew modern airliners were somewhat automated, but it's pretty shocking just HOW automated they are. And all is well with these automated systems until an errant line of code causes problems.... Great job to the 3 pilots!

I would love to try this

Absolutely amazing video guys 👍

Sunny was so calm and collected. She looked like she'd done that a dozen times

This was great, but in 99.9% of cases the plane will crash unless SOMEONE knows how to initially contact ATC in the first place. I wouldn't have a clue tbh, and I've spent years playing sims, just on a surface level. I'm 70% sure I could land the plane, 60% sure I would destroy the undercarriage, 40% sure I'd kill someone and 100% sure I'd f**k it up regardless.

As someone who has a bit of experience with flight sims and a pretty good knowledge of navigation and controls. I think I would be able to land a plane if I had to. It probably wouldn’t be a pretty landing but I believe I would be able to do it. Although if I had zero knowledge, I don’t think I’d be able to do it.

Even knowing youre in a simulator that would be so intense. Its actually pretty cool these planes do so much stuff themselves and by just setting altitude and coords rather than going gung ho on the yoke.

beautiful! i love this!!

"Lower the landing gear now!" "You do realise that will mean putting the walkie talkie down..."

I was a US Navy air traffic controller from 78 to 86. Last four years at NAS Whidbey Island. I was helping a friend from the Public Affairs office with a group of 10 Canadian commercial airline pilots. I took them to the A6 carrier landing simulator and arranged for each of them to get three passes at the deck. Zero sea state, daytime for two passes, nighttime for 1. One pilot managed to trap one time during daylight. This story is in no way a knock on these skilled pilots, it’s a testament to the extreme difficulty of carrier ops. Also, I mention they were Canadian only to show they had zero experience with US Navy flight ops (obviously).

Nice from control! Bit funny scenarios and very demonstrative (y)

This has strong Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes vibes. It's a game about diffusing a bomb where one person sees the bomb and one or more players don't, but they have the manual that the diffuser doesn't have.

This is on my bucket list. Would love to do it.

I was lucky enough to use an F15 simulator when I was stationed at SJAFB in North Carolina. The person running the simulator had me attempt landing several times and I crashed every single time. It's a lot harder than it sounds.

I guess the real question is how fast ATC can connect the passenger with a pilot with expertise in the exact model of plane they're flying. Cause while the guy in the video is good, you're not always going to have someone that well-prepped for the situation immediately on hand.

I just want to wish you good luck. We’re all counting on you!

Henry not allowed to drive his friends around anymore

Amazing video! Loved it.

Brilliant !

good video will try that sim

love this

You already removed the hardest part - well 2nd hardest part after getting IN to the cockpit: dialing in the correct frequency and actually have someone to talk to.

Maybe if possible, set a tougher challenge for 3 other would-be pilots,.. except on a twin-engined aircraft (e.g. 737 or A320),. when one engine is 50% down on power; see if they can land it.

Headphone with a Mic❌ Walkie Talkie✅

❤❤❤❤ super excited 😊😊😊❤❤❤❤ Great job love ....

One thing I'm interested in is whether someone could figure out how to establish radio communication without prior knowledge of how to do it.

Great watch

Henry is acting professionally and did not land bad but pulling the trust back at 100 ft before the ground another level

That projector wash-out was awful once it was "night" outside. Should've switched the camera's settings so the light wouldn't've been needed.

If a person is ever in this situation, I believe the hardest part is being able to establish communication with ATC.

Great video I would just love a crack at that!

this was amazing, ah such a beautiful content, have to say that the woman was so relaxed it's fabulous.😄🍃

6:10 ATC says: put altitude to 4000 ft. Man with glasses: It says -2900, -3000, -4000 🤣🤣🤣🤣😆😆😆. I'm dying out of laughter 😆😆😆😆🤣🤣🤣🤣. No one should ever let him pilot a plane ever! He first of all: turns off the autopilot by pressing the rudder peddles, then doesn't know how to press AP1 to turn auto pilot back on. Then when atc tells him to bring down altitude to 4,000 and they tell him which stick it is on the dashboard he some how 😆😆 press the other one and has it on -800, -1500, -2500 🤣🤣🤣🤣. OMG! I'm dying 🤣🤣🤣🤣.

Brilliant

OMG I want to do this so bad! The A320 is one of my favorites in MSFS.

Guy in the glasses wanted to save that gallon of fuel

The guy without hat could not follow instructions in a simulator, imagine with the added panic of a real emergency. However, it would have helped if he was told what the controls he was asked to act on were for and what the outcome of his action was expected to be. For example clearly explain that pulling the thrust levers all the way back reverse the thrust, push the plane backward.

Oh wow... Very original idea.

“Thrust levers are fully re##rded”💀💀💀

Excellent,!

It's the little room with pilots in it, but that's not important now

The calmest passenger ever!

Yeah, but, to key up the mic is usually a button left on the joystick. Not sure where it is on an airliner. Not sure what frequency it dial to, or where the dial is for the radio. Why aren't things labeled more obviously?

Loved this hilarious

Como um piloto de helicóptero e instrutor de voo, posso dizer que a moça foi muito bem. Soube cumprir as instruções de forma muito objetiva. Sobre o cara de óculos, não posso dizer o mesmo hahaha

They should make a game out of this like "Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes".

Henry's problem was just that at the end he continuosly pressed the talk button on the walkie-talkie so he couln't hear the other person speaking. Other than that, I think he followed the instructions very good.

...there's always one... I dont want that guy in the glasses anywhere near me 😂

this test lacks the real life stress levels in an actual situation

Approach phase activated? What about FMGC setup for the type of approach? And what about RMP talking to ATC? I know these are like test to prove that normal people can land the a320 but in reality its really difficult. If you have experience playing flying simulators then its possible

😂 as a flight simmer i cna relate this was me when i started

Man in the hat was cool, calm, and collected.

Gotta make it authentic and use the aircraft's radios! You've got them wearing the headset and everything, but using a dinky little hand-held walkie-talkie.

As a pilot in USA i was told by the FAA at a meeting right after 9/12 to identify myself as a pilot when checking in for a flight so they can make a note in thr passenger manifest in the event of an emergency. Obviously i would not be type rated in the a/c i am a passenger on, but i would be able to manually fly the aircraft in IFR conditions and understand ATC communications.

This is just IT in a nutshell

You should compare someone with only car license vs someone with multi licence and some extra papers for excavator, combine harvester or something.

Dude in glasses should not be allowed out in public for the safety of humanity.

As a sim a320 pilot this is my dream :)

Cool they done well.

It wouldn't be a pretty landing, the plane would probably take some damage and their might be a minor injury or two but after spending a few hours on my realistic home flight simulator I could manage a survivable landing. The hardest part is getting lined up with the runway so being able to talk to air traffic control and have tell you what direction to fly and when to start the descent would be important. A common mistake people make is to come in high and fast and try to lose alot of speed/altitude at the last second. This doesn't work to well because when you lose altitude fast you gain speed and if you try to lose speed you don't lose much altitude. You want to set the autopilot for a slow steady decent. You don't need to use all the buttons in the cockpit you can do an ugly landing with just a few of the buttons. Alot people wouldn't know what speed to come in at but the stall speed is usually marked in red so if you go as slow as you can staying above the red line you are probaly fine. A few years ago a maintence worker stole a plane from Seatac and didn't bother trying to land they just crashed. I didn't quite understand that, if they knew how to start the plane they could have probably managed an ugly landing although I suppose maybe they didn't want to spend life in prison. I hope if a plane ever found itself without a pilot one of the passengers would try to land it because they might succeed especially with air traffic controls help.

Matty boy smith 😂😂

Meanwhile, flight sim pilots are gonna be like, can I just get atc heading to next waypoint please. We are finishing the flight.

I just knew that the dude in glasses was going to drop them 4000 feet in less than a minute and then I can't believe that bird still made it after he reduced thrust that far out. Imagine that being an actual situation I'm sure they would have all been a lot more anxious. I know I would be.