Old, but interesting topic

Sammy writes:

Not in the seat next to them they wouldn't.

He doesn't have to be in the seat next to them.

The fact that it hasn't happened in all these years of aviation makes
it more than just a little unlikely. It's definitely so unlikely it's
silly.

The issue is not whether or not the scenario is silly, but what would actually
happen. In risk management, this type of thought experiment is common and
useful.

Not certified for IIIc means a good chance of hitting the ground so
hard you create a crater or stalling the plane at high speed a few
feet above the ground.

Hardly. It's still a much better bet than having a non-pilot try to land by
hand.

...and runways world wide are STILL being extended to cope with the
A380.

Those extensions may be premature.

There are still notorious approaches around the place.

You don't direct an aircraft with an emergency to a notorious approach.

The unrealistic perfect situation you mention is better called a
fantasy.

Automation such as I have discussed is more the rule than the exception in
airliners.

ATC can't reopen runways for you or make the weather go away.

It doesn't have to.

How does this not apply in an emergency?

In this emergency, there's only one pilot.

You have to do certain things
at certain times and if you can't within the time limit something goes
wrong.

Sometimes. Not all omissions will cause serious problems, though.

If all these things are working perfectly AND if you can instruct the
FMC and other automated systems correctly and in a timely manner.

They routinely work perfectly; they are very reliable (otherwise they would be
of no use). You can carry out the necessary operations easily with a bit of
help.

Takeoff and landing are rarely automated at the moment.

Take-off is rarely automated; landing is from time to time (even in clear
weather). But these are only small parts of a flight. And the part of the
flight that begins when the pilots are incapacitated in this scenario can be
fully automated all the way to touchdown and rollout.

No its not done every day by an untrained person.instructed over a
radio.

That's why such a scenario would be considered an emergency.

The fantasy is that everything goes right just because on this
particular day you have incapacitated pilots and that some janitor can
just be told to press a sequence of buttons to get the plane on the
ground.

Everything would go right, just as it does just about every day. It's
unrealistic to assume that the aircraft would coincidentally fail at the same
time as the pilots are incapacitated.

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