[8307c4]

I've never piloted anything real but I do know a few things, as was said a steel plane with turbines off drops like a rock, pretty much, so that's no option.

With commercial airlines it is all regulated, there is this process and a procedure, I would think most pilots simply do as they're told, and for more than one reason. Safety is one but more than anything those big passenger jets are nowhere near as nimble as say a fighter aircraft or even a Cessna... That is, a mistake in the air costs a TON of fuel and time to recover, never mind economy it's the fact it takes so much fuel that only a few not so minor mistakes can put a plane's fuel levels in the critical zone, not to mention it throws it off schedule. So the big jumbo jet is roughly comparable to driving a city bus in traffic, there's just not much left in the way of maneuvers to try and save a few gallons.

Last but not least it's not their petrol, the big guys buy it and pay for it all they do is fly it, there's nowhere near the incentive to save when it doesn't come out of your pocket, no doubt there's the odd one out there who might do it out of principle and I think everyone should, but...

Look at hypermiling a car, so much of it is ludicrous, it compromises safety and even overall economy just to increase mpg... To the point a hypermiler will take the longer route because there are less stops involved and it helps on the gauge when in reality it uses more actual ounces of fuel, stuff like that.

But with all that in mind and in a plane, a smooth approach, the most direct route involving the least throttle changes makes a difference. If on landing the pilot doesn't have to adjust the throttle but once or twice and make the least amount of corrections to hit the ground at the least air speed and mostly in one smooth descent line with little in the way of altitude / aileron and flap adjustments that helps and considerably, when the wheels pop out makes a big difference as well thou a few seconds won't matter much... But I think here a pilot with experience can reduce fuel consumption, whether they do it is another story, some most likely do, others maybe, a few certainly not.