How hard is it to land a plane?

Landing is probably the most difficult portion of flight. The controls are less effective at slower speeds, and you’re flying close to the minimum airspeed, which is why many fatal accidents happen during landing. The larger the plane, the faster you’re approach/ landing speed will likely be.

Has a passenger landed a commercial jet?

There is no record of a talk-down landing of a large commercial aircraft. There have, however, been incidents where qualified pilots travelling as passengers or flight attendants on commercial flights have taken the co-pilot’s seat to assist the pilot.

Can an average person land a plane?

Short answer: maybe, if he or she had plenty of help from air-traffic control and were good at multitasking. In movies, normal people are often put in situations where they have to land a plane.

Can you land on an interstate highway?

Landing on an interstate median is a non-starter, so we’re confined to one side of the interstate (with lanes going in one direction). Interstate highways have a minimum of two 12 foot lanes + outside shoulder of 10 ft + interior shoulder of 4 feet. That gives a runway width of 38 feet.

Did a large plane ever attempt to land on a highway?

The only actual historical citation of an attempt I could find for a large plane landing on a U.S. Highway was Southern Airways Flight 242, a DC-9, in 1977. The situation was dire and the results were disastrous: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sou… As the aircraft descended from its cruise…

Can you land a modern commercial jet on an airport?

$\\begingroup$Since I can not post an answer, let me add my opinion in a comment: As long as one is smart enough to locate the operations manual and contact ATC, landing a modern commercial jet on an airport with the necessary ILS equipment should be a piece of cake thanks to autoland.

How hard is it to land a plane on a runway?

Even without it, landing a functional aeroplane in good weather on a long runway is not rocket science. It is very easy. The times when pilots really need their experience and earn their salary is in emergency or bad weather. I suspect that even the brightest without experience would not be able to deal with strong crosswind.$\\endgroup$