How to Land a 737 (just in case)

Just in case this unlikely scenario happens in real life, my best bet would be to check for a Pilot among the passengers, even if he has only 100 hrs flying experience he will know how to get help from ATC on the radio and get a quick course on the controls for that particular Jet and be 'nursed' to a Landing... I'd say it's a 50-50 chance to make it OK

Haven't piloted anything real, but if most sims are anything to go by, the big planes are landed mostly on airbrakes and flaps and small planes mostly on engines. Throttling down too much on a big plane can cause problems because the large engines don't spool back up quickly enough to recover. (This is probably why civil aviation pilots usually have problems, they're into a habit of flying a certain way. Which is like trying to drive a bus as if it were a small car.) At least all planes are gliders to some extent if you maintain airspeed during approach.

Also I'm surprised the tower never instructed the guy flying to change the transponder. If there's an emergency, wouldn't that be one of the first things they'd have you do to make it easier to flag on radar? Or is making that adjustment not considered obvious enough to try messing with? I do know that's how pilots may communicate some kind of problem or other.

a reply to: pauljs75

they have it right,,,that transponder is already identified the aircraft....so no need to change it, plus that's a bad idea to touch it or distract....emergency craft has over-ride ....they gotta clear the way for him....so the transponder is just I D....whats hijack code 0000....?