This thread is about whether a qualified PPL is able to 'land' a large acft. We have all seen the different TV series where an untrained person gives it a try in a simulator, sometimes more of less successful.
But it has also been done, in a planned organised fashion, on a real airliner, a B738 being landed by a total non-aviation person. He did however receive a 'crash'-course (so to speak) in about 4 weeks: starting with PPL-theory course, then in an SR20 up to his first solo, followed by several sim-trainings and finally the touch-and-goes in a 738, being talked through by the training capt. sitting next to him. The first attempt was saved by the TOGA button, the second attempt and ‘successful’ contact with mother earth you can watch in:
TomTesterom (in Dutch)
- start of the clip: you see the TV person wearing the 3 bars and briefing the cc for his first ever B738 flight
- 01:07 the actual first ‘landing’ (it was actually a touch and go)
- 01:46 his first solo take-off few weeks before …
- 02:45 ... followed by his first solo landing
Difficult to judge whether the acquired skill from his ‘crash’ course equal or supersede the required skills to land a B738, compared to the skill of a seasoned PPL with GA-only experience….
And ... it caused quite a stirr upto the parliament