I reckon I could do most of those things except transmit to ATC and squawk. I suspect I could google the rest or call someone to tell me how to. If there's a manual up there, then maybe that will have info?
Total spit ball here but just “riding” in a small Cessna seems like a pretty intimate experience. I wonder if he had spent a bunch of time in the passenger seat (as a job as a surveyor or ranger or something) and just got to know his way around a bit.
Personally, ATC is your best bet here. I'd say a lot of people who have ever flown a flight simulator can get the plan low and slow enough to not cause death upon impact. I would anticipate a bumpy landing, some injury and a lost plane...so this outcome is pretty impressive imo.
Yeah, it’s just dense. Lots of great info in these things but you should know most of it from memory or only need it on the ground. It’s a legal requirement to carry in the plane but i don’t think I’ve ever needed one while in the air…yet
> If there's a manual up there, then maybe that will have info?
Many (most?) airlines have abandoned printed manuals and paperwork in cockpits and have switched to tablets - often iPads - for weight considerations and because they are easier to just keep updated, and those are usually non-accessible to random passengers. Notable exception are emergency checklists.
All planes are required to have the original POH onboard. However those don't really tell you how to fly the plane it's more focused on things like Vspeeds minimum flap extension speeds etc..
That varies based on the certification rules. My older 182 only had to have the operating limitations and weight and balance info (“O+W” in ARROW), but they did not have to be original.
My later year A36, I believe needs the original AFM/POH. (In any case, I do carry it.)
If you didn’t know how to fly, you couldn’t read enough of the book to figure it out before the aircraft departed controlled flight (if not on at least a wing-leveler autopilot).
As noted, on an airplane without an AFM (Approved Flight Manual) the POH does not need no be on-board, only a placard with the operating limitations. The cutoff for the AFM requirement are individual aircraft that had their first flight after 1 March 1979.
As the owner/operator of an early 1979 build aircraft that does not have an AFM, I’ve had this discussion with maintenance/airworthiness inspectors so frequently that I keep a printout of 14 cfr 21.5 in my POH.
I'm also an owner of an older 182 (1966 - 182K) I agree with you the POH won't really teach someone enough about the aircraft to fly it let alone operate the radios.
Figuring out how to talk on the radio would be easy, even if nobody told you how to do it. And in an emergency situations ATCs tend to be really understanding and helpful. They even read the manual for you.
In any case, landing a real plane in this scenario is even a little easier than in a simulator (though more dangerous, of course). You get all the vectors for the approach from the ATC, they tell all the other traffic to scuttle off and so on.
I feel like the only thing a manual would be good for would be distracting you from flying the plane just long enough to enter some position that you (as someone with no training) won't be able to recover it from.