MAYDAY! Is There a Pilot On Board?
Could an average joe land a plane in an emergency?
It’s just another ordinary day. You were the last to board and nearly missed your flight because you stayed for one too many at the airport lounge.
After a brief standoff in which you explained that a window for an aisle is mathematically offensive, you made the entire row get up so you could get to the seat you paid good money for.
After a final “if you wanted a window seat, you should either pay for it or be Silver status member like me” under your breath to 14B, you can finally relax.
Unlike 14B, you could never again imagine life without the status benefits from that airline credit card free trial.
Must not… forget… to cancel… you think to yourself as the beer sleepiness starts to take over on your twenty-seven-minute flight to Atlanta.
“IS THERE A PILOT ONBOARD?!”
You wake up in a state of panic. What did you just hear over the PA?
The flight attendant keys the mic again:
“The pilots have become incapacitated; we need someone to land this bitch.”
Hm, a slightly unprofessional way to ask. Regardless, this is probably not the time for customs and courtesies if the pilots truly are incapacitated and we need someone to land this plane.
Now’s your time.
14B looks panicked. Don’t worry, buddy, you’re in good hands—I’ve watched hundreds of plane videos on YouTube. You bury the urge to relay your latest watch, “5 Facts About the F-14 Tomcat (Number 4 Will Blow Your Mind)” and make your way to the flight deck.
This is the day you’ve been waiting for.
Could an Average Joe Land a Plane?
The short answer? Definitely Probably not.
Okay, it’s possible. And, actually, it has been done on numerous occasions where someone with little or no flying experience has landed a plane.
The three most recent that I could find:
In 2022, a Florida man landed a Cessna after his pilot became incapacitated.
In 2019, a student pilot with just one hour of instruction gets talked on to land.
In 2013, John Wildey lands a Cessna without his instructor in England.
The common theme here is that in almost every case it was a light aircraft, such as a Cessna 172, needing to be landed. Not a one-hundred-thousand-pound B737 carrying two-hundred souls.
A Cessna has fixed landing gear (it’s always down), one engine (easier to control), and about six instruments to monitor for performance.
The Boeing 737, on the other hand, has retractable landing gear, two engines, and a glass panel of complex numbers monitoring complex systems.
Obeying Murphy’s Law: on a plane losing its pilots, losing an engine and its hydraulic system is probably soon to follow. Even someone with their pilot’s license and hundreds of hours in a recreational aircraft like a Cessna 172 wouldn’t stand a chance in this scenario.
That being said, part of the beauty of modern aviation is how safe it is. From strict cockpit redundancies to the 'different meals' rule (where pilots never eat the same food to avoid simultaneous food poisoning), the system is designed so that a volunteer never has to step up. And to this day, never have they had to.
So, could an everyday Average Joe land a Cessna on a nice day in a pinch? Yeah. Apparently, it's been done a decent amount, too.
But could they land one of the most complex flying machines ever built by man, with the lives of hundreds also resting on their shoulders? Hell no.
Could a Fighter Pilot Land a B737?
Well, seeing as fighter pilots are the greatest pilots ever to exist, and we can do anything and everything in the air with just one pilot, and also we’re handsome and daring and cunning and humble, I don’t see why not?
Would be the answer I bet you’d get if you went to any given fighter squadron ready room.
Many differences remain between a fighter jet and a commercial airliner. However, someone trained in doing everything on their own (communicating with ATC, navigating, landing, and handling emergencies) in a similarly complex, albeit smaller aircraft, would certainly have the best odds.
And of all the fighter pilots in the world, who would fare best temping in a Boeing airliner? You guessed it: a US Navy F/A-18 pilot. Or an F/A-18 pilot from any country, to be honest.
The reason? In this emergency scenario, every advantage matters. The F/A-18 and the 737 are both built by Boeing, sharing a similar design philosophy, system logic, and controls familiarity.
To be clear, it would still be a long shot. Being a competent pilot in any aircraft takes hours of practice to learn the fine details and land safely.
So, if I were ever on board a Boeing 737 that needed someone to land us in an emergency, I’d definitely look to 14B. They may have been a peasant sitting in the middle seat, but as it turns out, also a Top Gun graduate. The Navy’s finest.
Thankfully, you chickened out on your way to the flight deck and pretended like you were just getting up to use the bathroom.
14B quietly took the reins and, with a little help from the Chief Pilot, got everyone safely back on the ground.
Unfortunately, not to Atlanta as this emergency required the plane to land as soon as possible.
This level inconveneince to a Silver status member? Unbelievable. The airline will surely be hearing from you.
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