This Video Will Teach You How to Land a Passenger Jet
File under: knowledge you will hopefully never use.
It’s a classic, almost cliche fear: being forced to take the sticks of a passenger plane when both the pilot and co-pilot are incapacitated. Fortunately, YouTuber Tim Morgan has an exhaustive, step-by-step visual guide to landing a Boeing 737, the most common type of commercial jetliner.
Morgan plays through every aspect of the scenario on a piece of cutting-edge computer simulation software called PMDG 737 NGX. PMDG 737 NGX is a $70 add-on program to Microsoft Flight Simulator X, which recreates the exact controls, physics, and design of a Boeing 737 down to the smallest exterior light and control switch or knob.
Morgan highlights one section of the fully-interactive control panel.
While it’s not quite virtual reality, the PMDG software is meticulously detailed, and regarded by most civilian enthusiasts as about as close to the real thing as you can get on a computer.
Morgan first made the video as part of a Quora answer, drawing on his experience as a commercial pilot to walk his audience step-by-step through the process of landing a massive airliner.
Overall, the ten minute video is an immersive enough experience to make you sweat a little.
Times were rough before YouTube tutorials.
Morgan’s friends play the part of various air traffic controllers, allowing him to run the viewer through the conversations they would likely have with authorities on the ground, who in this situation would probably rather be managing drones.
Takeoff and landing are the two most dangerous parts of air travel. While autopilot and drone technology is rapidly improving, there’s currently no substitute for an experienced pilot able to react to changing situations quickly.
Watch the full video below:
