Although the airframe can support a fully loaded aircraft (distrubtd across the wings and through the wingbox in flight, and concentrated on the landing gear while stationary or taxiing on the ground) I don’t think there is any structure on the aircraft that could support the entire weight concentrated into the 20 in[SUP]2[/SUP] or so of area of his hands.
Clearly, Superman should have a bunch of (presumably also gravitokinetically powered) children who he can then employ to help distribute the reaction forces on the airplane structure. Which, of course, renders this into an entirely new and potentially intractable problem. As viewers of the MCU films are discovering, superpowers don’t so much to solve problems as to just generate entirely new ones with bigger consequences.
Fly under the plane, facing towards the plane. Then blow upward with an increasing intensity to slow the descent of the plane. Then assuming the pilot has turned off the engines, redirect the airstream to also bring the plane to a hover. Once hovering over the Man of Steel, he lands on his back and slowly lets the plane down by decreasing his super breath.
For some reason, I was thinking that planes come down on their front wheel first. I don’t know why I was thinking that, when it’s the norm to land ass first.
But I do suspect that the front tire can take it. It seems like a good feature to have if the plane has to land nose-first for whatever reason. Plus, due to inertia, the wheels are going to need to take a bit more than just the rest weight of the plane, so they should be engineered accordingly (though, the rear two more-so).
An alternate solution would be to fly around and just mildly tap each inch of the underside of the plane with a pound or two of pressure. This would effectively distribute the load across the full surface and, done at super-speed, provide sufficient lift.
He attaches his LSH flight ring to the plane and with super will lifts it up!!
Come on, this is a guy who moves planets! I’m running out of his tedious ways for him to do this.
With super-ventriliquism he makes Bizarro keep running around trying to find him! This creates a super updraft saving the plane! “Here Bizarro! No. Over here! No here!!”
Well, we all know that planes crash because they are angry or depressed. Superman (played by Owen Wilson) could talk to the plane and convince it to land safely, or at least do a soft bellyflop that would not kill any passengers.
While a plane does land on only some of the wheels at first, that doesn’t mean that those wheels are supporting the full weight of the plane. Just think about why it’s only on those wheels in the first place: Because it’s still mostly supported by the wings. The only time a plane is entirely supported by the wheels is when it’s at rest, and by then it’s on all of its wheels. Though it wouldn’t surprise me too much to learn that the engineering safety margins are enough to support all of the weight on one set of wheels, anyway.
Note, also, that Superman also doesn’t need to support it just with his hands. He could cradle it against his entire body.
The problem isn’t the falling, it’s the hitting the ground.
Solution: Get rid of the ground. Supe digs out a giant tunnel in the Earth ahead of where the plane is going to crash. Heat vision, superstrength, whatever. He just has to keep digging, that’s all.
This I don’t buy. He can press his entire body against the plane, like a person lying on a mattress either face-up or face-down. The total surface area could be, I dunno… eight to ten square feet? Still not ideal, of course, but if he levels the plane off gradually, kept it moving fast enough to let it generate lift on its own, he could smooth out its path and try to aim for a runway or runway-like surface.
The first episode of the new Supergirl series features this exact scenario. She damages the plane somewhat to keep it from crashing into a bridge and manages a rough but intact water landing.
The jet looked like an Airbus 340 (four engines, no upper deck), which is not actually flown by any airline operating in North America, it seems. The plane was “bound for Geneva” suggesting it was at or near the start of its trip and presumably fully fueled. It had been circling for some time, though, already damaged, and may have dumped some its fuel. Its weight could be anywhere from ~300,000 to ~800,000 lbs.
She does, however, lift the plane using just her palms.