Passengers put to the test to see if they can land an Airbus A320 without a real pilot

Passengers were put to the test to see if they could land an Airbus A320 airliner without the actual pilot.

Movies and our imagination would have us believe that, if both pilots on an aircraft were incapacitated, a passenger could land the plane while being talked down by ground control.

YouTube channel Airliners Lounge decided to put this to the test, using an Airbus A320 simulator located in the UK.

Three ‘passengers’ were selected at random to land the plane, to see if they could do so with guidance from the ground.

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How hard is an Airbus A320 to land?

Each of the passengers was talked down in the simulator by a genuine Airbus A320 pilot.

With no prior experience, landing an Airbus A320 aircraft was not going to be easy.

Variables like crosswinds can also impact the aircraft, such as with this Airbus A340 in Argentina.

Modern airliners are so sophisticated, however, that they can land themselves, thanks to their clever autopilots.

But that still requires programming by pilots, which is something these passengers were unaware of.

One passenger accidentally knocked the autopilot off by moving the rudder.

That sounded an alarm, which wouldn’t go off until autopilot was reactivated.

For the most part, the passengers selected responded well to the instructions given to them.

The aircraft was still flying itself, with the passengers only adjusting a few parts of the controls.

Getting the Airbus on the ground was not easy

Many of the required interventions included changing the aircraft’s heading, altitude, and its rate of descent.

The three passengers managed to get the A320 to line up for its final approach, despite the difficulties.

They also managed to get the landing gear of the aircraft down, ready for the landing.

However, one of them pulled the throttle levers back way too soon, before the controller instructed him to.

The other two, however, followed the instructions, and both of their aircraft landed safely.

Despite the throttle issues, the third passenger’s aircraft did eventually land safely.

It proves that passengers, in theory, could land an aircraft with assistance.

Thanks to the clever computers, the three humans didn’t need to touch any main flight controls except the flaps or throttle levers.

Maybe the movies were right all along!

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