re: How hard is it to fly an airliner?

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It Shirley can’t be that hard.

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It is hard,

and don't call me Shirley.

It’s all automated these days.. These pilots just sit in the front with their hats and smile.

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I think I could fly it to where they wanted me to land it but it’s landing that's the tricky part.

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an old man in england was flying with his pilot friend a few years ago, and the pilot had a heart attack. he had to fly the plane for over an hour and after like 4 failed attempts he finally landed it. he had no flying experience and it was dark at the time... crazy

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It’s all automated these days..

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No. It’s all ball bearings these days.

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Always wondered if I could do it. I have all of 20 hours solo in a single-engine Cessna.

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Some years back one of the aviation magazines took a private pilot who had s couple hundred hours of single engine time, put him in a 737 simulator that was set up to be on autopilot at cruise altitude. They told him the situation was the pilots were incapacitated, and he was to fly it to a airport and land. He got it down on the runway, but forgot about reverse engine thrust, and burned up the brakes. He over ran the end of the runway but in real life everyone would have probably lived.

I’m an airline pilot. There are several of us on TD.

That being said, I’d imagine a novice pilot could fly an airliner okay in good weather (visual meteorological conditions) where they can easily see the horizon and ground with clear skies. Most people could keep the wings level, but climbing, descending and maintaining altitude and airspeed could be difficult unless they have some experience with the basic flight instruments.

Now landing is a different beast. Unless someone was on the radio telling them step by step exactly what to do, there’s no way an inexperienced pilot lands one successfully. The only chance would be to leave the autopilot on and have someone direct them to the ILS and the landing. Some aircraft have autoland features that if set up correctly can do it all. But you’d have to do everything just right.

There’s actually a video on YouTube that shows a female with no flight experience in a Boeing 737 simulator with a guy acting as a controller/pilot that talks her through the whole arrival, instrument approach, and landing successfully. So it’s possible if the right person is available at the right time. The vast majority of air traffic controllers would have absolutely no idea how to “talk someone down,” in that situation.

Sitting in a friend's cockpit simulator I could fly and land any rc plane they connected to it.

My only problem was I always always landed nose high. P51 mustang I could set down literally on it's tail.

Couldn't fly a heli to save my life

ETA: To clarify this is with zero experience.


I'd probably kill everyone and cartwheel across the airport..

18000 tons may be a decimal point or two to large

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18000 tons may be a decimal point or two to large

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For a train?

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There’s actually a video on YouTube that shows a female with no flight experience in a Boeing 737 simulator with a guy acting as a controller/pilot that talks her through the whole arrival, instrument approach, and landing successfully.

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Captain Joe