writes:

There's also the psychological issue that most people think without
constant "tending" of the airplane by both the pilots and air traffic
control, an airplane will fall out of the sky.

Not everyone believes that.

Your average person would likely be paralyzed by fear if told they had
to land the airplane.

I seriously doubt that. Most people aren't quite that irrational, especially
under pressure.

Then there is the practical issue of finding someone who can tell a
totally ignorant person how to find the necessary buttons to push
and what to enter entirely from memory for a given random aircraft
type. There is a reason for type training by airlines.

You can put the instructor in a sim, and it's not hard to locate the buttons.