The word for today is"Eeep!" The serendipitous and fortunate juxtaposition of an ATC who was also an instructor and a passenger with, apparently, nerves of steel is not one which will recur with any degree of frequency.

I was so wary of this trope that I made sure that in every story where my characters used planes at least two people who could fly it were present. I even had Harry and Draco learn to fly (under the auspices of SHIELD)!