Has anyone with no flight training ever landed an aircraft with no assistance?

Question

There have been successful "talk-down landings" in which someone on the ground has given instructions over radio for a passenger to land an aircraft when the pilot was incapacitated, but has anyone with no flight training ever survivably landed a plane without help?

Things that don't count:

A computer does all or almost all of the work, e.g. Garmin Autoland
The aircraft lands itself without intervention, e.g. Cornfield Bomber
The person built the aircraft, e.g. the Wright Brothers

As has often been discussed, it is possible for a plane to land without any person or computer controlling it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornfield_Bomber — Anonymous Physicist, Aug 01 '23 at 02:10
Not precisely duplicates, but this sort of thing has been discussed at length previously: Has Air Traffic Control ever had to talk a first time pilot through a landing due to an emergency?, Can a passenger realistically replace suddenly incapacitated pilots?. — Greg Hewgill, Aug 01 '23 at 02:43
@AnonymousPhysicist I edited the question to cover the scenario of the plane landing itself. — Someone, Aug 01 '23 at 04:12
Is this limited to soft landing or just any landing. Crash landing is hard landing hence is also landing. — user3528438, Aug 01 '23 at 06:06
@GregHewgill I'd say the first question you linked is an exact duplicate. — Jamiec, Aug 01 '23 at 10:29
@user3528438 any survivable landing counts. I edited the question. — Someone, Aug 01 '23 at 13:55
@Jamiec it's not a duplicate because that question is asking about someone landing a plane with help from ATC, while this is about someone doing it with no help. — Someone, Aug 01 '23 at 13:56
@RobMcDonald To be pedantic, Wilber and Orville Wright landed a glider with no flight training. When they landed planes, they already had flight training from gliders. — Anonymous Physicist, Aug 01 '23 at 14:03
An interesting alternative to the "pilot incapacitated" situation, but which I believe would qualify is: Someone spends many hours with advanced flight simulator software, studies manuals for the plane they want to fly, etc. and then goes ahead and "borrows" a plane for the first flight with no instructor or radio guidance - takeoff and landing successful. — manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact, Aug 01 '23 at 15:19
@AnonymousPhysicist I thought about that -- While I agree they had flight experience, did they have flight 'training'? I would also posit that the question could be generalized to 'aircraft' instead of 'plane' -- which would simply move the question to their first landing of a glider. For that, they had experience with their kites and of course bicycles. When do we stop including perhaps relevant experience? Once we're talking aircraft, we shouldn't forget the Montgolfier brothers. — Rob McDonald, Aug 01 '23 at 16:45
I just realized the title says aircraft -- while the text says 'plane'. I'll take that to mean that gliders, balloons, autogyros, helicopters, etc. are all germane. Of course the OP has ruled out all of these folks as the builders. — Rob McDonald, Aug 01 '23 at 17:21
@RobMcDonald My inexpert opinion was that the Wrights intended their glider flights to be training for powered flight. Kites have different controls. — Anonymous Physicist, Aug 01 '23 at 17:29

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 01 '23 at 18:20

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Possibly.

On 2023 July 15, on final to Martha's Vineyard Airport, the pilot Randolph Bonnist became incapacitated. His wife took control of the Piper Meridian and landed roughly on the grass next to a runway, damaging the airplane but without personal injury (as the saying goes, a good landing is one you can walk away from). It has not yet been reported if she had any training or ATC assistance.

That she missed the runway makes it plausible that she had neither pilot training nor ATC assistance. Either of those would have advised a go-around, had the airplane drifted off course while she was deciding to take the controls. Any assistance from her husband must have been rudimentary. In the brief time before landing, she may have chosen to land immediately as best as she could, instead of wasting time figuring out how to hail ATC.

She had likely watched landings before as a passenger, but that doesn't count as training.

answered Aug 01 '23 at 18:20

Camille Goudeseune

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Hmm, I wonder if a go-around would have been a good call. If she really had zero training it might be better to take the off-runway but relatively stabilized landing then go around, risk a departure stall, and possibly end up with a less stable approach. – Chris Aug 01 '23 at 18:53
Good point. That suggests the question: has ATC ever advised an untrained pilot to ditch off-runway when a go-around was technically possible? – Camille Goudeseune Aug 01 '23 at 19:01
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"has ATC ever advised an untrained pilot to ditch off-runway", this is also an interesting question about the legal framework for ATCO in such situations. – mins Aug 02 '23 at 19:31
@mins does ATC have some kind of emergency authority to violate regulations, similar to how pilots do? – Someone Sep 14 '23 at 14:04
@Someone: Neither the crew nor ATC, nor us, are allowed to violate regulations. But anyone can ignore regulations to save their life. This is still a violation you are liable for, but there is no penalty, if used with good faith, because this is like "force majeure" for contracts. However civil compensation will be due by the author in case damages or injury to others, because the law was breached. ATC would have to prove the life of the passengers was at stake and there was no other possibility. Difficult. – mins Sep 14 '23 at 14:31
@mins so there's no equivalent of FAR 91.3(b) for ATC? – Someone Sep 14 '23 at 15:18
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@Someone: I'm not a legal guy, and I may be wrong, but to me FAR 91.3(b) doesn't add anything to the rights of the pilot, it only reaffirms a fundamental right (every human being has the inherent right to life) which is part of the Human rights ratified by many States. – mins Sep 14 '23 at 16:56

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 01 '23 at 19:12

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Almost certainly. You don't legally need any sort of training to fly an ultralight. Statistically, there are enough stupid people that it's certain many people have made such a poor decision, and they haven't all died.

If you search "flying an ultralight with no training," you can even find many such videos. No doubt, many of them built their own, but it's unlikely they all did.

answered Aug 01 '23 at 19:12

Chris

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I'm sure people have flown certificated aircraft without training as well. But that's illegal so people are probably more circumspect about admitting it. – Chris Aug 01 '23 at 19:13
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Your answer likely applies especially to ultralight gliders, e.g. hang gliders. – quiet flyer Aug 02 '23 at 00:18

Has anyone with no flight training ever landed an aircraft with no assistance?

2 Answers2