Sad day for Mxsmanic

Sounds like you do have a reasonable head on your shoulders so
hopefully you will get the gist of my post..

Thanks ;-)

You really think you are going to have enough time to figure out how
to get the headset on, find the button to contact ATC, MOVE the bodies
out of your way to climb into the left or right seat, and then ATC is
going to have time to find someone to walk you through the complicated
FMC procedures before you buy the farm? *There is no reset button, and
autoland is something that wouldn't be set on a descent profile for an
approach I don't think?????

First priority is NOT talking to ATC but retaining control of the
aircraft. If it is decending rapidly the FIRST button I would engage
is Altitude Hold which will start the aircraft to level out. This can
be easily reached without moving the Pilot or FO. The pilots can be
moved in a moment and ATC can be contacted once you have 'control'.
The radios are more than likely already tuned to the nearest
controller. The major part of the FMC will now be 'unimportant' as
you will no longer be required to continue on your planned route. The
Mode Control Panel (the buttons and dials on the glareshield) take
precedence over the FMC. For the FMC to control the flight director
two buttons require engaging - LNAV (Lateral Navigation) which
controls the roll mode and VNAV which control the Vertical Navigation
and Thrust. Changing the Heading on the MCP and pressing Heading
Select WILL disengage LNAV and the aircraft will no longer be
following the 'magenta' line as set out in the FMC's LEGS pages.
Changing the target altitude on the MCP will cause the aircraft to
level off at that altitude (if still in VNAV) i.e. say you were
currently descending from FL180 and planned altitude of your next
waypoint was FL60ft setting the MCP altitude to FL100 WILL cause the
aircraft to level off at 10000ft. If Vertical Speed is also selected
VNAV will disengage and the IAS/MACH window will open showing the
current speed (it blanks when the FMC is controlling the airspeed as
per parameters set in the FMC) this can then be manually reduced by
using the control knob. The only area of the FMC I can see which
requires input would be the NAV/RAD page which allows manual input of
VOR's NDB's and ILS's which would be essential for a controlled
landing.

Please think of the human adrenalin factor. *Iceman we are not.....

The reality is that even as a private pilot, I seriously doubt that I
would be able to find the right knobs to twist in the vast array of
the digitalized world that would sit in front of me.

I agree and stated before the majority of us would literally be
crapping ourselves. The sim DOES help however in understanding the
'digitised' controls and knobs. When I took my first flying lesson in
a Cessna 152 (yes basic in comparision) but it was exactly the same as
the payware aircraft I bought for the sim. I had NO fear what so ever
as I felt I had done it for years. I knew the effects of every
movement of the control column and rudder pedals etc etc.

The stuff is massive to comprehend under a simulated environment
without the danger of buying the farm. *To expect somebody like myself
who does fly a SE plane who never set foot in the cockpit of a
commercial jet to be able to follow programming instructions for the
FMC and set it up for autoladning just is not realistic.

Agree, fear would play a major part not just for your own life but
that of the other souls on board.
As stated before the majority of the FMC is obsolete and the aircraft
can be controlled via the MCP and the autopilot. ATC will quite often
vector a pilot with differing headings, speed restrictions and
altitude constraints to that on the FMC flightplan but in most cases
the PIC will use the MCP to make these temporary changes. ATC will
normally vector the pilot back onto an intercept course at some stage
to resume the planned route. Once the ILS frequency and course is
programmed into the NAV/RAD page of the FMC and the aircraft is on an
intercept course pressing LOC will enable the aircraft to capture the
ILS localiser and APP will allow the the capture of the glideslope.
When APP is pressed all 3 autopilots are engaged and thus the autoland
is armed. ATC can instruct you to reduce your airspeed via the control
knob and extend the flaps, landing gear can be lowered and landing
lights and strobes switched on prior to Flaps 20 with continual
slowing using the autothrottle system and further extension of the
flaps. Speed brakes are armed by moveing the spoiler level beside the
throttle to the armed position and Autobrakes can be set using the
rotary dial. Once all wheels are on the ground the trust reverser
levers can be pulled back until your ground speed is 80knots. I'm not
saying it will be a piece of cake but providing the runway is a CAT111
with autoland facilities it will be a hell of a lot easier than having
to disengage the autopilot and autothrottle system and hand fly and
flare the last 200ft then bringing the aircraft to a manual stop.


Yeah, I am sitting at the comforts of my computer, I study day in and
day out of the procedures of a 767 FMC, the above scenario pans out.
You don't think a person wouldn't have a brain fart due to the
adrenalin factor from the chaos developing behind you from the
passengers and yourself saying WTF do I do next?

You may well freak out some of cope better with pressure. I'm not
going to do an MX and say yeah I'm superman no problem.


Clicking on the knob to tune the radio, moving
my mouse just a little bit without my head turnign ain't the real
deal.

TrackIR is a great piece of hardware which interprets highly
accurately your head movement IRL. This changes your view and
position within the 3D virtual flightdeck on screen. I can look left
and right , up/down at the overhead panels, twist my head, lean
forward and back as I would in a real aircraft. All buttons and
switches are where they should be. I dont pretend to know anything
about your GPS you mention but some software vendors do a better job
at modelling components than others i.e. FSX default aircraft versus
the expensive PMDG aircraft. There is also the confines of the
platform. Microsoft created a 'platform' which other developers use
to the best of their abilities. Some elements just cannot be
intergrated in their models as the application doesn't support them.


Flying in my plane, scanning my instruments IN IMC, doing all I can to
reduce the movement of my head to tune my 430 is not the same as
clicking a mouse on my simulator. *Is it the big knob or little knob,
Is it the knob on the right or is it the knob on the left. *Little
knob, what do you mean little knob, I see bunches of knobs. *

That's how the simulator can help. They have 'big' knobs and 'little'
knobs as per the real aircraft
A simulator cannot help you deal with IMC conditions as you cannot
feel the movement of the aircraft. Unless your attention is 100%
fixed on instrument scanning you wont know your in a bank or descent
in the sim.

what page is the approach plate on

Approach plates are there to facilitate the control and management /
seperation of aircraft into/out busy airfields. In an emergency, now
I'm talking about a non-pilot flying, they would not be required. ATC
would HAVE to clear all other traffic out of your way and vector to
the active runway.

MSFS will NEVER simulate the real deal of push, pulling, turning,
tuning ir twisting any aircraft avionics. *It doesn't simulate
reaching across the panel, holding the plane upright (remember, I have
to scan my instruments to remain upright, can't assume autopilot will
do that for you!!)

This is where TrackIR helps enormously. You DO have to look to your
right along the instrumation panel, you DO have to use your right hand
to control knobs and switches via the mouse albeit and you DO have to
lean over to reach or improve your view of certain dials. In this
scenario autopilot would be essential with manual changes to the MCP.
There is NO way I would even consider trying to manually fly a
commerical airliner as keeping it straight and level without
overspeeding or stalling would be very difficult for a beginner.

As I have posted many, many times, and I have used MSFS X. *

Did you use payware aircraft or the default as there can be a world of
difference depending on the vendor

Flying an
approach on the computer just doesn't simulate the physical sensations
of IMC. *Not sure if you ever been in IMC, not even sure if you are a
pilot, but if you never been in IMC, please talk to a IA rated pilot
and ask him to take you up. *You will never look at a cloud the same
way.

you can purchase weather generating programmes which download current
weather METARS and generate appropriate cloud bases, winds, fogs, rain
etc within the sim. I agree the sim cannot generate the feel. I'm
NOT a qualified pilot and have never flown yet in IMC conditions. I
agree hand flying an aircraft in the simulator in IMC can be difficult
as you have zero sensation of movement.

Ibby