# Amateur successfully landing a commercial jetliner? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 8, 2025, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-successfully-landing-a-commercial-jetliner/1024681 "2025-11-08T05:41:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2025, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-successfully-landing-a-commercial-jetliner/1024681/1 "2025-11-08T05:41:07Z")
Has it ever happened that an amateur successfully landed a commercial jetliner (with or without the help of ground control)? By amateur I mean at most this person has flown a two seater prop, at worst gotten lucky with a home aircraft simulator program. ---
**Author:** ![Yosh99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ccd318/32.png) [@Yosh99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yosh99)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2025, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-successfully-landing-a-commercial-jetliner/1024681/2 "2025-11-08T15:10:48Z")
I got to “fly” a Boeing 757 in a Delta flight simulator a few years ago with a Delta flight instructor. It’s so automated that if ground control said which buttons to set for computer control it would land itself. Without that assist, I think it’s still possible to successfully land with a little help from ground control. I crashed in my attempts, but my son successfully landed a couple of times. BTW, the flight simulator is incredibly realistic. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2025, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-successfully-landing-a-commercial-jetliner/1024681/3 "2025-11-08T15:25:50Z")
Very similar thread from yesterday, though it sounds like @Czarcasm is actually asking for real-life examples of when this has actually happened, whereas the other thread is asking, “_could_ it happen?” > [@Could a highly experienced small aircraft pilot successfully be talked through the landing of an airliner, as in "Zero Hour! " and "Airplane!"?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-highly-experienced-small-aircraft-pilot-successfully-be-talked-through-the-landing-of-an-airliner-as-in-zero-hour-and-airplane/1024679/10): > > Watch the video I posted — it will answer your questions. In the ten minutes before landing, one must set up the autopilot to capture the glide slope, and one must do several other tasks, including extending the flaps around the right time (and, of course, lowering the gear). And, monitor the airspeed. The last minute is the easiest - sit back and watch that baby flare. Just after touchdown, though, one must be ready to gently use the rudder pedals, to keep on the centerline as it slows (autob… ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2025, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-successfully-landing-a-commercial-jetliner/1024681/4 "2025-11-08T15:26:42Z")
As was indicated in the other thread on this subject, simulator landings are definitely possible, but I was wondering if an _actual successful_ landing by an amateur had ever happened. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2025, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-successfully-landing-a-commercial-jetliner/1024681/5 "2025-11-08T15:27:32Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > but I was wondering if an _actual successful_ landing by an amateur had ever happened. I was wondering if your question was inspired by the other thread, and if so, why you hadn’t referenced/linked to it. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-successfully-landing-a-commercial-jetliner/1024681/6 "2025-11-09T17:11:40Z")
If [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk-down_aircraft_landing) is to be believed, “there is no record of a talk-down landing of a large commercial aircraft.” The article does discuss a few incidents of smaller aircraft (single- or twin-engine Cessnas, mostly) being landed by passengers with the assistance of ground control, though. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2025, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-successfully-landing-a-commercial-jetliner/1024681/7 "2025-11-09T22:32:54Z")
Unless someone comes up with a more accurate answer, I guess I will accept that one as a fact. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-successfully-landing-a-commercial-jetliner/1024681/8 "2025-11-10T02:15:30Z")
That sounds correct to me. There are a couple reports involving the Beechcraft King Air twin turboprop, one in 2009 and one last year. Scroll down here to number 6, Doug White: [Ten Passengers Forced to Become Pilots](https://listverse.com/2016/06/28/10-passengers-forced-to-become-pilots-midair/) Aside from the aircraft being much smaller and different from an airliner, the problem with my link above is that the author is unsure whether the emergency pilot was or was not licensed to fly a single engine plane. That would seem to be a big question mark. I do not know how you would compare the difficulty of landing an airliner to that of a World War II Lancaster, B-17, B-25, or Heinkel He -111. But I think there must have been a number of situations in which the pilot, co-pilot, and navigator were all incapacitated by combat injuries, and a crew member with little prior knowledge went on the radio to ask what to do. Here is the only one I could find, and the landing attempt failed: > **[Medal of Honor: Archibald Mathies – World War II, February 20, 1944](https://www.ghostsofthebattlefield.org/medal-of-honor/the-amazing-story-of-archibald-mathies-a-legacy-of-sacrifice-and-heroism)** I wonder if there were successes. Since the man at the controls lived, it might be less remembered. Also, if it happened in an air force of a defeated power, it might be less remembered for that reason. Then, maybe there wasn’t ever a success because we are dealing here with shot-up aircraft.