Cessna 172 pilot with no training, no hours, only flight simulator experience. Takeoff and landing

You might not want to skim through the forums (though I find the discussion interesting). In the end, this actually happened and you can see a video of it here ▶ this video EDIT: and rdancer also linked to the final report, see his post, thanks :)

The answer is yes. Someone actually did this experiment. ▶ this video But it's pretty challenging. Today's simulators are pretty good, but there's something about having your life actually on the line that can't be captured by a sim.

And here is the video: ▶ this video The trip report will spoil the outcome, so the video is somewhat more nerve-wrecking.