Mythbusters Episode Comes To Life

Funny that this circumstance should have aired on a fairly recent Mythbusters episode. They proved a "Talk-Down" could be done even in a 767 size a/c, but they also indicated that "This has never been done in real life."

Passenger Lands Plane After Pilot Dies. Guided to ground for emergency landing

By BRIAN HAMACHER Updated 12:54 AM EDT, Tue, Apr 14, 2009

A passenger was forced to make an emergency landing at a Fort Myers airport after the pilot of a small aircraft suddenly died during the flight, saving five people onboard.

It sounds like something out of the movie "Airplane!," but without the hilarious mid-air hijinks.

A passenger was forced to make an emergency landing at a Fort Myers airport after the pilot of a small aircraft suddenly died during the flight, saving five people onboard.

The plane was on autopilot and had nearly reached 10,000 feet when the pilot died. The plane, which had left Marco Island Executive Airport Sunday and was headed to Jackson, Mississippi made the landing at Southwest Florida International Airport.

The passenger who took the controls has been licensed for single-engine planes for 20 years, but isn't certified to fly the King Air plane, a large luxury model. To help guide the pilot in, an air traffic controller called a friend in Connecticut who is rated to fly the larger aircraft.

It's unclear what caused the pilot's death.

Copyright Associated Press / NBC Washington

However, in the Mythbusters, it was "assumed" that the standby pilot had no previous piloting skills at all. So I guess in retrospect, this does not count? Still. Good job to the Standby-Guy for a job well done!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MalahatTwo7

Funny that this circumstance should have aired on a fairly recent Mythbusters episode. They proved a "Talk-Down" could be done even in a 767 size a/c, but they also indicated that "This has never been done in real life."

Passenger Lands Plane After Pilot Dies. Guided to ground for emergency landing

By BRIAN HAMACHER Updated 12:54 AM EDT, Tue, Apr 14, 2009

A passenger was forced to make an emergency landing at a Fort Myers airport after the pilot of a small aircraft suddenly died during the flight, saving five people onboard.

It sounds like something out of the movie "Airplane!," but without the hilarious mid-air hijinks.

A passenger was forced to make an emergency landing at a Fort Myers airport after the pilot of a small aircraft suddenly died during the flight, saving five people onboard.

The plane was on autopilot and had nearly reached 10,000 feet when the pilot died. The plane, which had left Marco Island Executive Airport Sunday and was headed to Jackson, Mississippi made the landing at Southwest Florida International Airport.

The passenger who took the controls has been licensed for single-engine planes for 20 years, but isn't certified to fly the King Air plane, a large luxury model. To help guide the pilot in, an air traffic controller called a friend in Connecticut who is rated to fly the larger aircraft.

It's unclear what caused the pilot's death.

Copyright Associated Press / NBC Washington

However, in the Mythbusters, it was "assumed" that the standby pilot had no previous piloting skills at all. So I guess in retrospect, this does not count? Still. Good job to the Standby-Guy for a job well done!

---

It doesn't count! It only counts if the passenger taking over has ZERO knowledge of aviation!!!!

Sigh. Ya, I was 1/2 way through posting it when I read the last part, which of course caused my final comment. That was also when I remembered the final part of the Mythbusters when they said there has been no record of an unskilled/untrained person had ever conducted an emergency landing of an a/c. :o

Heck, this guy had the same ground school and fundamental training any pilot has.

He just needed to know the geography of the cockpit layout and where the controls for things were.

Doesn't count at all. Now if it was John Q. Public......

As a student pilot... I have to say that while the guy who took over did have knowdelge of aircraft ops from having his privte pilot ticket the King Air is a larger and more complex animal than the Pipers and Cessnas that he has flown in the past.


Speaking for myself and myself only, transitioning from a Cessna 152 Commuter to a Cessna 172 Skyhawk took a little bit of time to adjust.

I have also had the opportunity to fly a Cessna 210 and a Waco WC-5 open cockpit biplane.. that was a blast!

Here is a link to an interview with the pilot on the Aircraft Owners and Pilot's Association (AOPA) website-

http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/article...pilotsave.html

There is a link on this page to listen to the ATC recordings of the incident. The ATC controller did a great job keeping the pilot calm and giving him the information he needed to get back to the ground safely. My hat is off to them both for an outstanding outcome.
No doubt his previous flying experienced helped him, but the Kingair is a bigger plane than he had ever flown. It would be sort of like someone who had only driven a small car suddenly having to drive a tractor-trailer rig. Same principles, but different techniques.