[loup-vaillant]

Pilot student here. I’m not floored at all, for two reasons: my own experience, and selection bias.

I once maintained level on a Cessna equivalent with zero training besides video games (I loved flight simulators back in the late 90s), and a tiny bit of model flying (I flew little and crashed a lot). Maintaining altitude wasn’t trivial, but maintaining level was dead easy. I’m sure I could have managed a very slight bank turn safely. Now landing… some years later I got 5 hours of gliding. My first landing went well enough that the instructor didn’t have to take control. If my instructor got sick instead, I would give my former self 30% chance of avoiding injury or death. 75% if a trained instructor with a similar glider could tail me and observe me more closely (and I think there were). Never ever gonna risk such folly of course, but I wouldn’t have been doomed either.

Then there’s selection bias: we hear of this because it is a feat. No question about that. Now let’s not forget about all the people that tried this and died. For those we’ll only hear of the pilot getting sick and the plane crashing. Or just the plane crashing. Those make for less impressive headlines.

[tgsovlerkhgsel]

Passenger who got to hold the stick for a bit. Flying the plane is easy. Flying it roughly at some altitude in a rough direction you're given is also easy.

Now, landing it? That's an entirely different beast for sure.

[jhugo]

It is, but it's not as difficult as you think. PPL students are landing the plane solo within 10-30 hours of flight time, during which they will have landed maybe 40 times.

[eachro]

I think doing this under pressure is what's most impressive.

[loup-vaillant]

Ah yes. I think that depends on the individual. Knowing myself in that kind of situation, I'm fairly confident I wouldn't have panicked. I would have been worried enough that it would have affected my abilities. Hmm, maybe 75% with an instructor tailing my was too optimist. I should probably lower that to 60%.