Cessna 172 pilot with no training, no hours, only flight simulator experience. Takeoff and landing
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN cites it as real evidence for whether a non-pilot can land a plane, whenever the topic comes up.
What it is
A man with no flight instruction and only desktop flight simulator experience attempts to take off and land a Cessna 172, with a commercial airline instructor aboard who gives no help. The flight came out of a prop bet.
Recommended by 0 HN commenters across 0 different months, 2013 to 2016.
What Hacker News said
Cites revelation · 2013-02 · on “How to land an airplane if you are not a pilot”
And here is the video: [this video] The trip report will spoil the outcome, so the video is somewhat more nerve-wrecking.
Cites lisper · 2014-02 · on “Questions People Ask When I Tell Them I Own an Airplane”
The answer is yes. Someone actually did this experiment. [this video] But it's pretty challenging. Today's simulators are pretty good, but there's something about having your life actually on the line that can't be captured by a sim.
Cites myztic · 2016-01 · on “Flying a plane with flight simulator experience only”
You might not want to skim through the forums (though I find the discussion interesting). In the end, this actually happened and you can see a video of it here [this video] EDIT: and rdancer also linked to the final report, see his post, thanks :)