Working as a pilot is stressful enough as it is. But over a long enough time frame, you’re bound to run into some serious emergency situations. The hope is that you’ve got nerves of steel and enough experience to get the entire plane to safety. And when everything is said and done, your passengers might even be blissfully unaware there was a horrendous problem in the first place.
#41
Not a pilot, but one of my buddies is. We were talking about one of the more remote airports that we'd both visited, located in a difficult place that has a lot of wind shear, so passengers are used to having the plane make a couple of attempts when landing.
Anyway, my friend said the sensors for the landing gear malfunctioned, so he couldn't tell whether the wheels were down or if they'd gotten stuck. He flew low, made an announcement to the cabin that they needed to circle the runway because of the wind, and made a call to the control tower asking for someone to make a visual confirmation that the landing gear was fully deployed.
Anyway, my friend said the sensors for the landing gear malfunctioned, so he couldn't tell whether the wheels were down or if they'd gotten stuck. He flew low, made an announcement to the cabin that they needed to circle the runway because of the wind, and made a call to the control tower asking for someone to make a visual confirmation that the landing gear was fully deployed.
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#42
I was flying two of my friends back from some tasty BBQ in Georgia a few years back. As we got closer to home, the weather really started to get bad, a lot of pop up storm cells. It was a perfect situation for my iPad (used for navigation charts) to totally [went out of power] as well as my onboard weather radar. I was internally panicking, and air traffic control was my saving grace and helped me get home safe. A few months later my friends asked this same question, they said I looked so calm so they figured it was no big deal!
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#43
I went to an aeronautical university, the majority of students were either aerospace engineers or pilots.
My boyfriend is an engineer and our good friend is a pilot.
Pilot friend offered to fly the three of us to a large city an hour away. We flew in, ate some Waffle House, and started flying home. My boyfriend was in front, next to the pilot, and I was in the back.
We were just coming over some large mountains when the ATC let's us know the winds are crazy strong down on the flight line. Our pilot hadn't been cleared to land, so we flew in circles... Until we started to run low on fuel.
The pilot has one of his instructors on the radio, and they decide he can land, even though he doesn't have that qualification.
We prepare for landing. The wind casually bats the plane sideways. We're swaying back and forth by the struggle between wind and pilot. Finally, touch down and land safely.
I was taking a nap the whole time. *After* we land, my friend talked about how scared he was.
My boyfriend is an engineer and our good friend is a pilot.
Pilot friend offered to fly the three of us to a large city an hour away. We flew in, ate some Waffle House, and started flying home. My boyfriend was in front, next to the pilot, and I was in the back.
We were just coming over some large mountains when the ATC let's us know the winds are crazy strong down on the flight line. Our pilot hadn't been cleared to land, so we flew in circles... Until we started to run low on fuel.
The pilot has one of his instructors on the radio, and they decide he can land, even though he doesn't have that qualification.
We prepare for landing. The wind casually bats the plane sideways. We're swaying back and forth by the struggle between wind and pilot. Finally, touch down and land safely.
I was taking a nap the whole time. *After* we land, my friend talked about how scared he was.
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3points
