My PPL knowledge along with flight sims experience would IMO provide all the necessary knowledge I require for basic control of a passenger jet.
Little do you know...........
Once upon a time when I had several thousand military hours I well remember the
very steep learning curve when I changed employers and started flying passenger jets. The idea that you'll just jump into a jet in the cruise and land it because you've got a PPL .... from me it's an almost certain thumbs down...
There are a heck of a lot of pitfalls........If you don't stuff up right from the start and lose control through misuse of the automatics, if it's a type you're familiar from your flight sim and is accurately modelled in your flight sim, if you manage to leave the automatics in, can set the FMC/navaids up for your desired runway, can manage the energy/speeds/flaps/config/automatics switching , you might, just might, manage an successful autoland (<10%chance IMHO) ....
You'd be better off if you can get advice from a type rated pilot over the radio ( but yes, watch out for the autopilot disconnect switch) but bear in mind you probably will not have the benefit of lots of fuel and therefore time to experiment, but I'd say 50% chance at best......
Manual flying/landing???? ..You said your mate managed it and
I assume the aircraft was in a "stabilized approach" when he took control.
Bingo - there's one of your ( and many a trainee airline pilot's) biggest problems - getting from the cruise down to the stabilised approach...any idea of how you do it ( perhaps with limited fuel) ?
IMHO Zookers example is quite a good one - heading for Manchester (UK) and you'd probably end up hitting Heald Green 99% of the time........a survivable landing on the grass on the airfield is the best you could hope for if you're lucky, and I'd give you <1% chance of doing that unassisted..and that's giving you the benefit of good weather and daylight
