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HARRISON: "I've got a serious situation here. My pilot has gone incoherent. I have no idea how to fly the aeroplane."
CONTROL: "ATC: 333 Lima Delta, Roger, what's your position?"
HARRISON: "I have no idea. I can see the coast of Florida in front of me but I have no idea."
CONTROL: "Maintain wings level and just try to follow the coast, either northbound or southbound. We're trying to locate you."
On 10 May at 10,000 feet above the ocean a Cessna 208 Caravan pilot suffers aortic dissection and collapses. The other two people on board are passengers without piloting experience -- Russ Franck, 69, and Darren Harrison, 39. The plane goes into a dive. Harrison takes control, slowly levels the aircraft, establishes radio communication and gets assistance from ground controller Robert Morgan, a seasoned Cessna flight instructor. One hour later, after what Franck describes as "a normal landing", the pilot Kenneth Allen, 64, is rushed to Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center where his life is saved for second time that day.
The story:
• May 11 https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/passenger-safely-lands-aircraft-after-pilot-incapacitated/
• May 11 https://medium.com/faa/miracle-in-the-air-air-traffic-controllers-guide-passenger-to-land-plane-safely-27362004f07c
• May 12 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61416384
• May 12 https://people.com/human-interest/air-traffic-controller-speaks-out-after-helping-passenger-land-plane/
• May 16 https://people.com/human-interest/passenger-who-landed-airplane-with-no-flying-experience-speaks-out/
• May 17 https://people.com/human-interest/pilot-has-miraculous-recovery-after-health-emergency-led-to-passenger-landing-plane/
• May 26 https://people.com/human-interest/pilot-who-had-medical-emergency-speaks-out-after-passenger-landed-plane/
--
Ever wanted to know how to fly an airplane just in case?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by HiThere on Wednesday June 01 2022, @03:12PM (4 children)
You don't (repeatedly) hear about the times when this doesn't work.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 01 2022, @03:44PM (3 children)
The saddest case like that I do remember hearing about was a case of pressurization loss. A flight attendant was somehow the only one to regain consciousness (perhaps it was mostly a plane full of bodies at that point) and was briefly seen in the cockpit trying to save it. Of course the reason he was able to do that was because the engines had flamed out and they were back down in to breathable air. Making the glide to an airport from 10,000 ft. with no flying experience would have made Sully's water landing look like a cake walk. It didn't happen. Crashed with all lost.
(Score: 3, Informative) by pkrasimirov on Wednesday June 01 2022, @05:19PM (2 children)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helios_Airways_Flight_522 [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 01 2022, @06:02PM (1 child)
Yes, that's the one! He's still a hero for steering the plane away from populated areas before it crashed. RIP.
(Score: 3, Informative) by tangomargarine on Wednesday June 01 2022, @06:17PM
Ha, double-ninja'd. I thought of that crash, too. "I bet I could find--oh."
Then I go to read it again, come back to quote
Dangit not again!
Cf. United_Airlines_Flight_232 [wikipedia.org], where they lost all their hydraulics:
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"