On Wed, 23 Jun 2010 22:31:05 +0200, Mxsmanic wrote:

Wingnut writes:

Experience driving versus never having sat behind a wheel should make
some difference. It's plain old common sense!

It makes a difference

Thanks.

There will be some commonalities.

Very little in common, and much of it too dangerous to use. For example,
the 747 has flight controls, and so does the Cessna

And here we have the Cessna strawman again.

Virtually every pilot arguing about it here is a low-time private pilot.
I can spot them from a mile away. They're in the "danger zone" of
low-time pilots, where most accidents occur. Enough experience to feel
confident, but not enough experience to feel humble.

Orthogonal issue to the original discussion.

The results might be the same. The results for the pilot might actually
be worse if his experience encourages him to take risks that the
non-pilot would not (such as attempting to fly the aircraft by hand).

Do you honestly think someone with a *commercial* license won't typically
be well past that "not experienced enough to be humble" stage?

Except in your earlier, specific scenario of being talked through a
procedure from the ground, where anyone with basic comprehension skills
will probably do about as well.

The only viable scenario is one in which the pilot/non-pilot is given
instructions by a qualified third party.

In your ever-so-humble opinion perhaps.

Someone with piloting experience might more quickly be able to find and
recognize particular controls or instrument readouts though, and will
be able to understand a more compact jargon, so he may be a bit faster
though other than that only as good as the quality of the ground
instructions.

He might find the magnetic compass faster, and he'd recognize the yoke
and rudder pedals and throttles. Beyond that, nothing is really certain.

Er, horizon? Altimeter?