It is rare for the pilots of a commercial airliner to be hand-flying at any time other than take-off and landing. So, no the autopilot won’t jump in once the pilot stops reacting but the autopilot will already be engaged and the pilot might spill his coffee or neglect to make a radio call.
Several difficulties with this:
- Airliners can divert to airfields that remain clear.
- Not all crashes would result in wreckage blocking the runway - many would wind up elsewhere on or near the airfield.
- Airliners carry enough fuel to reach an alternate field and then fly for 45 minutes. That’s long enough for ground personnel to clear a lot of wreckage.
- Aircraft can land on other runways, or un-blocked sections of runway, or on taxiways, or at other airfields, or on the grass - all are better options than giving up hope and simply plunging into the ground.
Possible, but most unlikely. Many sizable airports have parallel, non-intersecting runways.
Can someone help me understand what all would catch fire in the space of two and a half minutes? There’s going to be the odd situation where someone knocks a candle off a table as they pass out, but most things on stoves and ovens can be left unattended for that short a time without disaster. Having never used a blowtorch before, do they generally have kill switches on them?
I think the primary airliner disasters would be those who are circling the airport or in line to land. I used to live under one of the approaches to IAD, and I can tell you that’s a lot of airplanes. A lot of really big airplanes. Two minutes, I’m guessing was at least three planes passing over head in a direct line approach, not to mention the ones circling at a higher altitude.
I agree that the planes int he air would have a terrible time finding a safe place to land. But I also agree that the number one casualty cause would be traffic accidents, and the subsequent inabilityt o move them to the hospital.
So, it sounds like the passing-out is not in itself the “flashforward”. So what is the “flashforward”?
The TV show did show most of the surfers off Santa Monica Pier (?; some LA area pier anyway) drowning.
It wasn’t deaths but one thing I’d expect more of that weren’t shown in the premiere episode would be serious joint sprains, bruising, and head injuries from completely unrestrained falls from a standing position. A lot of heads would have bounced off a lot of cement.
I think fires would be a huge problem in poor, densely populated areas. For example, at any given moment in the slums of India, Bangladesh, or Brazil there must be thousands of people cooking with hot oil or over open flames. I’ve seen cooks’ clothing catch fire in a few seconds of inattention, let alone two minutes. Then consider that these neighborhoods aren’t built to any fire code and therefore don’t have the clear alleys and heavy concrete walls we’d expect to act as firebreaks. For example, this firein an Indian market took 13 hours to put out.
That’s understandable, but in the TV show, they were in downtown LA, and showed fires in several high-rises; some had several fires burning.
I was wondering the same thing as Kingspades. What would catch fire and spread so quickly in an office building or apartment building? Even if someone had just put a Hot Pocket in the toaster oven, it wouldn’t cause a huge fire with black smoke pouring out of the windows in just 2 minutes.
If, by chance, I’m “busy” with my gf and we both pass out, will I maintain my erection? Just curious.
I could definitely see car/semi truck fires spreading, but office fires? I don’t see that happening. You get that after, like, earthquakes. Or an airplane flying into a building.
Yeah, I forgot that most planes run on auto-pilot these days, and that many even land on auto-pilot. Good thing we don’t have a fleet of piloted nuclear-armed B-52s in the air 24/7 these days. Or do we?
Car crashes would be the major problem. And of course in Hollywood, every car that crashes bursts into flames. So that’s where you get all your fires from. 
Well, there are certainly a lot of trucks carrying flammable materials on the road - fires on and near highways would probably be a huge problem. And tunnels… I don’t want to think about the tunnels. Very bad.
But if I passed out here at my computer at work for two minutes I don’t think I would wake up to a major fire. In fact, I think we’d all be fine unless some of us were standing up and hit our heads.
Based on the ads, people see a vision of their future when passed out. They then wake up with the vision. For example, one woman sees herself cheating on her husband. From the ads, it seems the question is whether these are “true” visions or some sort of warning from above.
I’m pretty sure that more people would drown in their bathtubs than would die from being involved in a plane crash.
But in the industrilaized nations, by far the biggest casualties would be due to out of control behicles vehicles on the highways and interstates. Followed up by slower speed traffic in the cities running up on sidewalks taking out pedestrians.
Those numbers will then be compounded by the inability of emergency personnel to get anywhere due to the miles of wrecked and disabled vehicles.
Well you can have an erection in your sleep…
Did they show all the people who amended their flashforwards to make themselves sound more important, or to get in a gibe at someone? Did is show people who’s stories changed slightly every time they talked about it?
I laughed when I read this. You’re right, because most people’s futures are probably going to be pretty basic. If all I saw was myself doing pretty much what I’m doing now, I might be tempted to embellish my vision a bit.
Nuclear bombs must undergo an elaborate arming process in order to actually “go nuclear” - if any of those B-52s crashed you’d have a cleanup problem, but no mushroom cloud.
I probably wouldn’t even know it was the future.
Thank you! I watched the whole show thinking I had Deja Vu and kept telling my wife what was going to happen next.
I knew I’d read the same premise in a book but couldn’t remember. I magine my surprise when I realized it was by a fellow Canadian, I’d assumed it was Dean Koontz or someone similar.
I wonder if anyone has halfway-reliable statistics for the number of planes landing or taking off at any given moment and the number of automobile passengers. I think those are the two big categories.
I hadn’t thought about the danger of fires in huge slums. I could easily see that being a major killer.
I wonder about trains. Do they need regular input from the engineer to avoid crashing or are they more like planes on autopilot?