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Learning on the Fly

posted by janrinok on Wednesday June 01 2022, @06:56AM   Printer-friendly
from the meh-amateur dept.

pkrasimirov writes:

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?

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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 01 2022, @05:52PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 01 2022, @05:52PM (#1249491)

    ~30 years ago several of us made one-day flights of about 250 miles (500 miles round trip) to a customer's site. The route was a monopoly for one of the major US airlines, and those tickets were pricey. We worked out that it was cheaper to charter a light twin (like a Baron, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beechcraft_Baron [wikipedia.org] ) -- less cost than buying three commercial airfares.

    We opted for two pilots from the charter company, although one pilot was cheaper...

    I think the first error in this story was not paying for a professional co-pilot.

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