There have been cases where people with no flight experience have been talked through landing a plane by ground controllers. I remember one case where an old woman landed a small single-engine plane (think a Beech or Cessna) when the guy flying had a heart attack. (he was dead on arrival).

I could certainly land a jetliner given that modern jetliners are actually able to land themselves but usually don't (meaning the pilot doesn't actually have to take the controls), and the 747-400 is a very modern one. Provided I had someone to talk me through it since a simulator is not the same as a real plane, but I could do it.

I may see this next weekend. Not listed as captioned here in St. Louis, but something to do on my birthday ...

You will have to tell me about it tomorrow.

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Oh, certainly so. It's just one of the classic disaster-movie scenarios: Both Pilots dead or unconscious, the guy/gal with minimal experience has to land the plane.

I figure that simulator experience gives one a notch of skill above nothing. Wired News did an interesting report on that a couple years back, though I forget their eventual conclusion.

--Chiaroscuro

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