Civilians are always landing planes in movies. Call me cynical, but I doubt I could wing it

In our particular cultural moment, overestimating one’s ability to take on complex tasks seems less like hubris and more like the norm.

November 10, 2026 — 2:11pm

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Despite a lifetime of media convincing me otherwise, I will not be landing the plane.

You might recognise the scene from countless made-for-TV movies and more than a few made-for-the-movies movies: the pilot falls victim to a hijacker/terrorist/stomach bug and a hapless passenger is forced to take a crash course in commercial aviation (minus the actual crash).

An unexamined part of my brain had always assumed that when the proverbial stuff really hit the fan, I’d be able to step up and bring that bird down in one piece. It wouldn’t be a cakewalk, obviously, but if I wrestled the joystick with the requisite amount of grimacing, grunting and muttering, “Pull up, pull up, you pile of junk”, we’d all be on the tarmac and waving to reporters in time for a late supper.

Pop culture is littered with scenes in which people like you or me land the plane, but I think ... it might actually be a big deal? At the very least, it deserves a literature review.

The trope first took off big time with 1956’s Julie, in........

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