Would it be possible to talk a jet down with no pilot?
 

Sorry if this isn't the right forum, but the question has been on my mind the last few days and I wanted to ask it on Flyertalk as I'm sure there are pilots and experts here who can answer it.

Most of us have probably heard about the Flight 93 cockpit transcripts being released over the last couple days. Particularly revealing is how hard the passengers fought to take back control of the jet from the hijackers. So here's my question: If the passengers had been successful in subduing the terrorists, what then? By most accounts the pilot and FO were dead or mortally wounded. Could a control tower have talked down a jetliner with someone at the controls with no flight experience? Can the auto pilot be programmed to land a plane? I guess I was just wondering if the flight was doomed the moment the pilot and FO were killed or of the passengers could have actually landed the plane.

See If the passengers/FAs regained control of those 4 flights on 9/11, could they land? I think I remember other threads on this subject, as well, which you may be able to find by searching.

Thanks for the excellent reference! I hadn't seen that thread. Many in this thread seem to go on the assumption that there would have been at least one person on board with some sort of flying experience, which would have increased their odds of landing safely. I guess I was thinking of a situation where no one on board had flying experience of any kind. Some respondents thought it would be nearly impossible to the land the plane in that case, while others thought some simple computer skills and instructions from the tower could still get it down. I don't know, it sounds terrifying to me. I think I'd be just as scared realizing we had no one in the cockpit who could fly as I would knowing we had a terrorist in the cockpit.

Yes, the auto pilot can land the plane on most aircraft. A DL pilot showed me how they set it up on a 777. You select the airport from a list and then select a runway from a list of runways at the airport you selected. The plane will land and come to a stop on its own. I dont know if the flaps or landing gear would have to be set manually though. I also remember hearing on the Flight 93 documentary that one of the FA's husband was a US Airways pilot. She had spoken with him during the hijack and said he could tell her how to set up the plane to land if they regained control of the cockpit.

it's pretty sad that we now associate this kind of q with real life events rather than cheesy horror movies. :(

It most likely would not be a tower controller giving instructions (tower controllers talk to planes just a few minutes prior to takeoff and landing - other times pilots are talking to TRACONS and centers). The person flying the plane would be put through to company and a pilot there could duplicate what's happening on the plane in a sim and provide instructions from there. There are, however, many controllers at centers and TRACONS and probably even towers who were commercial pilots and they can be called on in a pinch. The company's own pilots would be in the best position to provide instruction, however.