Question: *There is [another question](https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/8986) about airliners and if someone not qualified could land them. My question is about the steps I should take to stay alive in a small GA plane.*

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Let say a friend of mine invites me aboard a small aircraft (like Cessna 172 or equivalent).  

At some point my pilot friend passes out for some reason. What should I do considering the following: 

* I'm not a pilot.
* I'm seated in the co-pilot seat.
* I spent hundreds of hours on Flight Simulator (a few years ago).
* I've been initiated to fly a small aircraft (1 session covering the very basics), but no take-off/landing exercises.
* The weather is good.
* Aircraft is in good condition.
* The tank is full.
* Area has ATC and I know how to operate the radio.

This is my guess:

1. Hold the plane's level and heading
2. Slap my friend to try to wake him up
3. Send "Mayday" asking for assistance and technical guidance
4. Try to follow ATC instructions as well as I can

Does this look good? What should be done differently?

Answer: 
This has happened before and it usually ends ok, the most important thing is to keep calm. One suggestion I would have is instead of flying straight and level I would fly a box over the current location while you speak to ATC. This will keep you in range of the ATC station you are talking to and keep you out of trouble. If you fly straight and level the terrain may come up to meet you, you could fly out to sea, or you could blunder into O'Hare's airspace with all the fun that would ensue. Try to maintain the same altitude as if you are at cruise the mixture should be set for that altitude. 

A few things to add to your list:

* You need to apply carburetor heat about every 15 minutes unless the aircraft is fuel injected. If you don't do this your carb could ice up and you could lose power. This is done by pulling the carb heat knob (or lever, depending on the AC) for 20 seconds or so and then pushing it back in
* Fuel management: depending on the aircraft you may need to switch tanks. A C172 (and most high-wing airplanes) is generally set to both tanks in which case it's not an issue but in low-wing airplanes you will need to regularly switch tanks (say every half an hour) to keep the fuel balanced, otherwise you could run out of fuel in a tank and down you go with a full tank in the other wing. On a PA-28 the fuel selector is by the pilot's left knee which would make things interesting. Make sure you don't accidentally switch the fuel off!
* Slapping someone isn't the best way to wake them up, pinch their earlobe as hard as you can with as much fingernail as possible, or push a pen into it. It's very painful, if anything will wake him/her that's it
1. As much as possible, keep your hands off of the controls. A properly trimmed airplane will maintain straight and level flight. A human likely will not.
2. Tune the radio to 121.5 and call mayday. 121.5 will be monitored everywhere there is any ATC activity.
3. Follow the instructions of ATC.
4. Use the trim and throttle to descend. During landing, the elevator (pull back and push forward on the wheel) controls airspeed, the throttle controls altitude. Trim the airplane and use the throttle to control descent. More/less trim may be required.