In internet polls and late-night conversations, a surprising number of people claim they could land a commercial airliner if the pilots suddenly became incapacitated.

It sounds heroic… until you look at what actually happens when real people are put to the test.

The Question Nearly a Third of Americans Answer “Yes” To

There’s something about modern aviation that makes the average traveler feel oddly confident.

“I mean, how hard can it be? Autopilot does most of the work anyway.”

On 2 January 2023, YouGov asked 20,063 US adults how confident they were that they could safely land a passenger airplane in an emergency, relying only on help from air traffic control.

13% said they were very confident and 19% somewhat confident — 32% combined. Among men the figure rose to 46%; among women it was about 1 in 5. For contrast, 42% were not at all confident.

That is a lot of people willing to take the controls. So someone checked.

The Experiment Worth Talking About

The Washington Post, at the University of North Dakota’s John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences, May 2023

In 2023 The Washington Post worked with the University of North Dakota’s John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences to test how people with different levels of flying experience would handle an emergency landing, in a simulator configured to represent an Airbus A320 cockpit. Brett Venhuizen, professor and chair of UND’s aviation department, supervised.

Six people took part: four had no real-world pilot experience, one was a recreational private pilot (Dr. Aaron Prestbo), and one was a former airline pilot who now instructs at UND (Brian Dilse).

The scenario: both pilots are incapacitated, and you have to get the aircraft down. Participants had radio contact with a controller and basic instruction on the controls.

What Actually Happened

UND published its own account of the session in UND Today. The four non-pilots:

Patrick C. Miller, a UND writer, veered off the runway at close to 70 mph. His instructor’s verdict: “We landed on the runway; we just exited it. We wouldn’t have died.”
Meloney Linder switched off the autopilot and crashed — then landed successfully on a second attempt, with coaching.
Bretton Daku, a finance student, also disabled the autopilot and entered a dive he couldn’t recover.
Alexa Vilven navigated all the way to Minneapolis, then declined the runway and put it in the water instead.

Both pilots landed without incident. Neither said they’d feel comfortable doing it for real.

Venhuizen’s summary: “We demonstrated the importance of professional pilots being at the controls.”

So… Why Can’t We Just “Follow Instructions”?

Aircraft systems are complex. Autopilot is your friend — until you switch it off, which is exactly what sank two of the four attempts above.
Radio communication is critical, but easy to mess up under panic.
Physical coordination matters — pitching, throttling and steering at the same time is harder than it looks.
Stress is the silent killer. Real-world emergencies trigger adrenaline, tunnel vision and decision-paralysis.

✈️ Conclusion: Unless you’ve had professional training, your chances of landing a jet purely from “common sense” and “Tower talking you through it” are extremely low.

Why This Myth Refuses to Die

Hollywood makes it look easy.
We’re conditioned to trust technology.
Confidence is free — experience is not.

Final Thought

Next time someone tells you “I could definitely land a plane if I had to” — show them this article… and maybe raise an eyebrow.

Think You Could Do Better? Prove It.

Book an immersive session in a WeFly commercial jet simulator and try landing under real cockpit conditions — no autopilot excuses.

Dare to test your confidence? 👉 Step into the captain’s seat at WeFly.

Nearly 1 in 3 Americans Think They Could Land a Passenger Plane