Stolen plane: Anyone can learn to fly on home PC

Re: “How could employee steal and fly an airliner?” (TNT, 8/12).

The headline on this article questions how such a thing could happen, especially when the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport employee had no formal flight training.

All a person must do is check out one very popular computer flight simulator — X-plane — for the answer.

I have been flying X-plane for about 5 years and learned to fly a Boeing 737 on it. I can start the plane from cold and dark, taxi, take off, fly through clouds and turbulence, and then execute a perfect instrument landing.

Of course, I have never flown an actual 737, but when a pilot friend of mine got me an hour on the real 737 simulator -- the one airline pilots must pass muster on -- I taxied, flew into a blinding snowstorm and landed at Juneau Runway 8, a notoriously difficult approach.

Amazing what your personal computer can do.