Salon :: Tech & Business

Ask the pilot: Can someone with no flight training safely land an airliner? Plus: Pilotless planes, overpaid pilots and other aviation myths

Truth be told, I've never had cable TV, but the Discovery Channel's "MythBusters" series has always struck me as a fun and useful idea for a program. A sort of Snopes.com of the airwaves, it seeks to prove or dispel various urban legends and generally wacky propositions -- for example, can a person really become stuck to an airplane toilet seat by flushing it during flight? <P>With commercial aviation as rich as it is with mysteries and misconceptions, it's perhaps no surprise that plane-related topics are among the show's most frequent. Most recently, hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman attempted to find out if people with no flight training, namely themselves, could safely land an airliner. Their answer turned out to be yes, probably. <P>The correct answer, of course, is no, absolutely not. But who am I to quibble? <p>...</p><img src="http://feeds.salon.com/~r/salon/tech/~4/203785162" height="1" width="1"/>

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