-And we are at 20,000 feet and requiring assistance.
[ Alarm ringing ] -Oh, jeez.
-This is not real life. -This is not real life.
-Don't do anything because it's nice and steady.
-Four.
-This is like when I play poker and I just didn't do anything
and I actually won.
[laughter] -Right.
-If there was an emergency and the flight attendant
came on, asking for help, I would probably panic.
[laughs]
I don't know that I would be much help in that situation.
-Think you can land a plane in an emergency?
In March, The Washington Post published a story
on whether civilians could do just that.
We got thousands of comments, from, "I know my limitations.
I might fall right out of the sky,"
to, "Hold my beer and watch this!"
The premise was this -- if the two pilots
flying a commercial plane were incapacitated,
would a passenger with no flying experience
be able to land the plane safely?
Data from two surveys showed
that more than 30% of respondents said they could,
including nearly half of men.
So, here at The Washington Post, we put that idea to a test.
-Okay, let's get you in.
-Okay. -On back.
-We flew to North Dakota, to test the flying capabilities
of civilians in a simulator modeled after an Airbus 320,
which usually seats 140 to 170 passengers.
In this building behind us,
this is part of the University of North Dakota,
which has an aerospace aviation program
that teaches undergrads how to fly planes,
so, when they graduate, they can become pilots
or go into the aviation industry.
We did not get that degree,
but we did come here for two days
to try out the simulator, which is part of their training
and part of any airline pilot's training.
We tried the idea on four participants...
-Nervous. -...Alexa,
who'd only watch YouTube videos of landing planes...
-[laughs]
I don't have a lot of faith
in my ability to land this plane.
[laughs]
-Until you get the seat stopped.
-...Brett, the son of a pilot,
but whose only flying experience was on video games.
-I've played "Microsoft Flight Simulator"
for about a total of five hours, so.
And I've no real experience in an airplane, so.
-...Brian, a former airline pilot
who had worked for a major carrier...
-Went to some cargo airlines.
I flew some old cargo airplanes as a captain.
-...and me, a travel reporter for The Post,
who had been in a simulator for two days.
Does this come with a parachute?
Uh-oh.
-Are we moving?
Are we in clouds?
[laughs]
-123, contact Minneapolis Center now, 127.5.
-Is this is how you work the radio?
[thump]
What the hell?
-Alright... -Ready, Brett?
-...the event has started, Brett.
Are you ready to go?
-I am ready.
[ Alarm ringing ]
-[electronic voice] Landing. Landing.
-Oh, jeez.
-Landing. Landing.
-Wait. -Landing.
[ Alarm ringing ] Oh, crap.
-Landing. -Affirmative.
WaPo 123.
Both pilots are incapacitated.
I'm an offline pilot who is
inside the flight deck, all alone,
and we are at 20,000 feet and requiring assistance...
...from someone on the ground to kind of talk us through,
talk me through and decide the best course of action.
-Terrain. Terrain.
-It's fine.
-[indistinct]
-500. -Should I do it?
-Yeah, go ahead. Two clicks.
[beeping]
Perfect. Now, just hold it.
Don't do anything because it's nice and steady.
-Four.
-This is like when I played poker
and I just didn't do anything and I actually won.
[laughter] -Perfect.
It's...not all that similar.
[laughter]
-Don't make me laugh.
I might move it. -Okay, okay.
Airliner 456. It appears WaPo is flying
above the runway.
Can you talk her down?
-I didn't feel confident in landing at all
because I didn't want to do a nosedive down to the runway.
So then I went around, but then I just got back in the clouds.
I'm above the runway here.
-Alright, WaPo 123.
I'm not sure we're going to make this runway.
Use your rudder pedals to stay on the center line.
So, push left a little bit on the rudder pedal.
-Left?
I still don't think I have the confidence.
It is extremely difficult
and I think you'd probably need some proper training,
in order to take control and land that aircraft.
-I also had auto brakes engaged.
-I was going to say. He stopped really quickly.
-Yeah, I had auto brakes medium involved, so.
-Good job. -Yeah, there you go!
What do you think? -[laughs]
-I did it. -You did it!
-I did a thing. -You did a thing.
-So, if this happened in real life
and I was sitting there and this happened again...
...I don't think anything would change.
And Minneapolis Tower, WaPo 123.
We're stopping right on the runway.
-A little bit of left rudder.
-[indistinct]. [thump]
-But it goes back to, I think, the three main principles --
put the headset on and communicate;
don't turn autopilot off;
and, as pilot Brian says, just take a minute
to sip your proverbial tea and just think about it
and be thoughtful before you make any moves.
-We stopped. We're on the runway.
-Yay! -We made it to Minneapolis.
[applause]
-I just imagined this like fiery landing
and I just like didn't
[laughing] want that to happen.
-As soon as I saw that there was only blue above me
and I could only see blue on that screen, I was like,
"Yeah, no, there's no saving this."
-Further reinforced the fact that
it's really hard to do it by yourself.
-It was very much a relief to see the airline pilot
was able to land the plane by himself.
-Even simple things like understanding
where an airport is,
there was quite a bit of difference, as we saw,
from Brian, the professional aviator,
to our subjects that we grabbed
sort of from our environment here.
I think there's really no comparison
on their performance level.
-Well, I kind of look forward to my flight home
because I feel smarter now. [laughs]
So, I feel like, when the pilot is doing certain things,
I have a better sense of like when we're slowing and altitude
and also when he's turning --
or he or she -- is turning autopilot off.
And then my heart might skip a beat
because I know they're going manual.
So, now, I know more, whether that's for better or worse,
but I have the information now,
so, I'm a little bit wiser, now, as a passenger.