My wife and I were recently flying back from the Gold Coast via Tocumwal in New South Wales and we thought that we'd drop in on our gliding friends at "Toc" to say hello. It was a beautiful day and like all good stories everything was going well right up until our near disaster.

In the middle of a midfield crosswind we hit an enormous air pocket which despite our firmly fastened harnesses caused our bodies to become one with the roof of our little Archer. It's at this point in time that all of you individuals out there that are "height challenged" can smile because my wife's hair got a little ruffled for the experience while my cranium felt as if it had been hit by a pile driver. The problem was, I was the pilot.

Immediately after the event I've never felt pain as bad as my own voice rattling out the circuit calls as it smashed its way through the headphones mounted on the side of my head. I'd often wondered what it was like to be on the receiving end of a boxer's knock-out punch and now I just about knew.  Luckily for us I managed to hold it together just as the wheels touched down and my drums thumping away in my brain reached a crescendo.

So let's play out this scenario a little. Let's imagine that rather than being my enormous five foot ten inches (why do we think of height in imperial measurements?) I'd listened to my mother, eaten my veggies and sprouted an inch or so more. We hit the air pocket and my wife adjusts her hair just as she looks across at a comatose husband with a trail of blood dripping from my head wound. It's then that my wife realises that she's now the pilot in command of a metal box careering around at 130 kilometres an hour and a long way off the ground. Not good.

After this little incident it dawned on us both that getting a little training for my wife wouldn't be such a bad idea. So what does an inadvertent flyer really have to know to get them down out of the air and safe on terra firma? I'd probably start off with how to press the little button on the "steering wheel" to talk. If you're brave you could even go as far as how to change the frequency and which radio your talking on. In a high pressure situation there's nothing like having a helpful voice that can relieve some of the tension in the cockpit.

It really doesn't matter if the radio call ends up being "help, I have no idea what I'm doing but my husband's got blood coming out his ears and I'm now trying to fly the plane". I couldn't imagine any other pilot in the world that wouldn't respond positively to a radio call like that.

So what's next in the training course? How about a little flying practice? This is straight and level, this is how you turn and here is the "accelerator lever" that helps going up and down. Depending upon the individual a basic level of competency could be reached in an hour or two. In this time some of the scary things about aircraft could be dealt with such as; you can't shut the engine off with the "accelerator" or flying upside down in a Warrior is an unlikely event.

Now that our loved one can at least keep the aircraft in the air I'd look at teaching them how to navigate. If you have a partner like I do then navigation is something that is right up there with brain surgery that often ends in tears when driving along the road let along flying like a bird. So when I say navigation I actually mean, push the "nearest airport" button on the GPS, hit the enter button and then make the little plane follow the pink line. This would be followed by comments such as, "Yes, the plane is like a picture of us flying" and "Looking out the cockpit is also a good idea."

The final bit of training would have to involve a couple of hours of circuits. For most of us with fixed gear I wouldn't worry about the DownWind checks. If you have a retract then you might want to mention that landing gear on the ground is often a good idea. Once the wheels touchdown then the instructor can get the plane back up to height and hand it over to the impromptu pilot. I wouldn't worry about teaching how to do a touch-n-go, just how to get the wheels firmly fixed on the runway. Of course, learning how to use the brakes and how to cut the engine would be a real bonus.

No matter what the scenario being the sole person with any aviation experience onboard is a possible recipe for disaster. Most sensible caring people have life insurance but how many of us have thought to invest in a little training for those that regularly fly alongside? My guess is that we and our bank accounts sighed with relief at the conclusion of our license test and it didn't even occur to many pilots to pay a little extra for the person in the right hand seat. For now, my wife is about to receive a present of a few hours flying instruction.

Written by :

mgilmour

 

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written by swoop, September 16, 2010

That sounds very lucky - hope ur scone's feeling better! Maybe wear a helmet next time

The training of frequent passengers is a great idea.

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written by peter, September 16, 2010

Are you going to do something like a Partner "Pinch Hitter" Course that some clubs run. Sccofields do one
"This programme will teach a non-pilot to control the aircraft in the event the pilot becomes incapacitated, and bring that aircraft in to land under control. The trainee is shown the basics of aircraft and systems operation similar to that a pre-solo student would go through. This can be done with the trainee in the right hand seat, in the same situation as they could find themselves in the event of a real situation arising. No solo flying is involved."

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written by flyingninja, September 16, 2010

Phew, that's terror alright. Glad it all ended ok.

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Training
written by Alan Willock, September 17, 2010

Hi
My name is Alan and although I am not a pilot I go on fun flying rides at Camden YSCN.
I have noticed that some of the operators run a course just for this type of situation allowing a spouse or partner to take over the controls in an emergency.
Even forgetting to put the gear down on some modern aircraft like Piper Arrows (I did that on X-Plane simulator) the aircraft will automatically put the gear down when the airspeed / engine revs reach a certain parameter. I know Airborne Aviation run such a course and I'm sure many flight schools would have similar courses.
I once made a feather light landing in a Jabiru with the CFI keeping a close watch on the controls.
Hope this helps.

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written by Ree, September 18, 2010

It sounds good in theory. With or without training it would be terrifying. Unless the wives are interested enough to at least get through to solo & keep their skills current I don't think they would be able to handle an emergency situation. We are lucky because we are both pilots but I wouldn't want to be a "non flying passenger" & have to land my pilots plane.

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written by htran, September 22, 2010

I can't convince my wife to take lessons to first solo stage. She says I can just teach her. No way, I remember how dodgey my first few attempts at landing were and how many times my instructor took over. Big difference between letting your wife keep the plane straight and level (when its in trim) whilst you grab a drink compared to trusting her to land a plane!

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