One crew member incapacitated...brace pax for landing?

AKcharger said:
It's a question about liability, company policy and just plain CYA. There's no doubt the plane could be landed safely...that's not the issue. The issue is this would (in every legal sense) constitute an emergency. So, do you treat it as an emergency landing and follow GOM and brace or just treat it like a normal landing?

Personally I'd brace 'em, cheap insurance. I'd much rather be chastened by the POI or Chief pilot for being to cautious than violated or fined for not taking precautions during an emergency...no matter how benign it may appear.

...But that's my 2 cents...that's why we have this discussion forum for right?
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You are going to have the pax brace for a landing that is not a real physical emergency? There is nothing wrong with the aircraft, and no dangerous wx conditions and you are not landing in a cornfield. Meanwhile, you will have a couple of hundred people thinking that they are going to crash and/or die. They are back there crying, pissing their pants, praying, clutching onto one another and screaming. When they then later decide to sue the airline for being scared out of their lives, having their lives flash before their faces, traumatized for nothing and demand compensation etc. , you'll think twice about that decision. That's after your name and face is spread all over the news and the internet followed by a reporter on the ten o'clock news interviewing one of your middle aged pax who is looking bug eyed and still trembling and mumbling...."Oh Lawdy, I thought we were all going to die!', into the camera. As long as you can land the aircraft safely, the pax do not need to brace or know anything at all has happened up front unless you are diverting to another airport and then you calmly tell them something simple, plausible and brief that will not terrify them.

You follow your company's procedures and that's it. I am fairly certain that no company has "tell the pax to brace" for the scenario/landing which you outlined either. It will be a normal landing. Flight attendants are trained to read check lists as well and in a pinch, one could probably help with radio transmissions and tuning of frequencies. And yes, you would also check for any other commercial pilots on board as already suggested. Otherwise, you should be fully competent to land the plane safely by yourself.
 
Pilotdude3407 said:
If that happened...I'm calling up a private pilot from the back to help me...
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I've thought about this and it came up in cruise one day and I concluded that if the other pilot was incapacitated, after I did the QRH which involves having the F/A ensure the pilot is moved back from the controls (or out of the cockpit) I would not seek the help of someone unless they were a current 135/121 pilot, or a part 91 jet (maybe KingAir too)...i.e. flying professionally. If someone in the back has their private and instrument or something similar, I don't doubt they might be able to provide some assistance, but I think that getting them up to speed with what I'd like them to help with would take the same amount of time as me getting the plane on the ground by myself. I've still got the checklist after all.
 
Hell, why not have 'em put on life jackets while you're at it. You just never know if that single-pilot approach emergency that you're having the pax brace for might go so wrong that it also ends with the airplane sitting in water.

"Cheap insurance", right?

Yeah, other than the fact that you've needlessly terrorized your passengers into thinking they're about to have to swim. Or, in your case, you've needlessly terrorized them into thinking they're about to experience a landing that they need to brace for.

As pilots, it is part of our core abilities to assess a situation, predict the most likely outcomes, and take appropriate action based on that judgment. It's not always the best answer to go to the most conservative approach "just to be safe", because there are other potential ramifications, 2nd and 3rd order effects to our decisions that we have to consider. Since it's not a likely outcome that there is going to be anything abnormal about the single-pilot landing, there is absolutely no reason to get pax freaking out about it.

Hell, if you think that it's "insurance" for the pax to brace on a single-pilot landing, why not just go the extra step and have the pax brace for EVERY landing....you know, just in case.
 
Hacker15e said:
Hell, if you think that it's "insurance" for the pax to brace on a single-pilot landing, why not just go the extra step and have the pax brace for EVERY landing....you know, just in case.
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There is no need to do this, as I (still!!!) haven't done IOE. ;)
 
AKcharger said:
It's a question about liability, company policy and just plain CYA. There's no doubt the plane could be landed safely...that's not the issue. The issue is this would (in every legal sense) constitute an emergency. So, do you treat it as an emergency landing and follow GOM and brace or just treat it like a normal landing?
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Like some others have said, there is nothing wrong with the airplane. Why brace?

Think of it from a different point of view. Medical situation in the back. Somebody has a heart attack. Do you brace for that landing? It constitutes and emergency as well.

Never, never give the passengers a chance to freak out and panic.
 
Nick said:
I've thought about this and it came up in cruise one day and I concluded that if the other pilot was incapacitated, after I did the QRH which involves having the F/A ensure the pilot is moved back from the controls (or out of the cockpit) I would not seek the help of someone unless they were a current 135/121 pilot, or a part 91 jet (maybe KingAir too)...i.e. flying professionally. If someone in the back has their private and instrument or something similar, I don't doubt they might be able to provide some assistance, but I think that getting them up to speed with what I'd like them to help with would take the same amount of time as me getting the plane on the ground by myself. I've still got the checklist after all.
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Haha I was mocking all those PPLs that love to play what if for that chance they may get to see the cockpit in flight.

The only person I would ever consider for assistance is another one of our pilots in the back...maybe another rj from like Psa or something. Anyone I have to babysit or brief how to do something up front, I can do it faster myself. And unless I have a major emergency in bad weather going into LGA...it would not be that big of a deal flying SP.
 
Hacker15e said:
Hell, if you think that it's "insurance" for the pax to brace on a single-pilot landing, why not just go the extra step and have the pax brace for EVERY landing....you know, just in case.
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I know of at least one where I turned around and opened the door and checked to see if the luggage compartments opened....they didn't, so I asked "Everybody OK back there?!?!" We all had a good laugh...at my expense.
 
Google ""Lloyd Wilcox" Braniff" and see how Braniff did it in 1979.

Since I fly SP most of the time most of the landings my PAX would be braced?
 
Bumblebee said:
I know of at least one where I turned around and opened the door and checked to see if the luggage compartments opened....they didn't, so I asked "Everybody OK back there?!?!" We all had a good laugh...at my expense.
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Haha, that's awesome. I'm sure the pax appreciated the humor.
 
TFaudree_ERAU said:
If you, as a professional pilot, acting in the capacity of a first officer, can't fly and land your jet single pilot, then you have no business collecting a pay check as a professional pilot.
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Exactly.

This shouldn't be OTJT.
 
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