As far as flying successfully, cold with no experience in a real life, full-scale simulator... Been There, Done That.
Worked at Boeing several years ago, and had never done any flight sim at all (and I'm not a pilot). Seems at different periods of the year there is alot of unbooked time in the flight sims used to train the airline pilots. Boeing allowed employees to use that sim time (by appointment), and this included an in-cabin instructor and the whole shebang.
In WWII, my father had been a Central Fire Control Engineer in B29's flying over the Hump and later over Japan. So, for his birthday I wangled us both some flight time in the 737 sim. Figured he'd like that and he really did. Best damn present I ever got him. And even thought the Old Man was never a pilot, he seemed to know more about aircraft and flying than the instructor, even correcting him on a couple of slip-ups about the 737 flight controls.
It actually seemed reasonable to me at the time that he should, since the Old Man was a big deal mechanical engineer and project manager for the Austin Co., which designed and built most of Boeing's buildings. It's why we moved to Seattle in 1959.
Anyway, Dad and I flew the 737 simulator all over San Francisco (where the family is from and I was born), including going UNDER the Golden Gate bridge, and later emptying the aircraft's heads (simulated) over my Grandmother's house in San Rafael (he was pissed at her at the time
). On return to the virtual airfield, the Old Man told the instructor (politely) to shut up and let him land, and made an almost perfect landing.
Can't say I did quite as good a landing as his, but we made it down on the first approach and any landing you can walkaway from...
However, they did have to make some virtual repairs to one or two hangars, but I figure letting the passengers off via the inflatable ramps directly IN the passenger lounge made up for that.
Don't know if this means I can save the plane if all the flight crew eats the in-flight, tainted fish meal. But I'd give it a good try.