Passenger Lands Plane After Pilot Dies 4
A passenger who landed a twin-engine plane at Southwest Florida International Airport after the pilot died in flight, saved four lives and is being called a hero. Federal Aviation Administration officials say the pilot died after takeoff from Marco Island Executive Airport on Sunday. The plane was on autopilot and climbing past 10,000 feet when the pilot died. The passenger who took the controls is licensed to fly single-engine planes but isn't certified to fly the two-engined King Air plane. An air traffic controller called a friend in Connecticut who picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue, and is rated to fly the aircraft. The pair talked the new pilot to a safe landing.
MythBusters? (Score:2)
I thought MB busted this myth.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
mythbusters concluded it was possible to talk someone through landing an airliner (they successfully had someone talk jamie and adam through a landing in a simulator with the person doing the talking through using only the info that would be availible to ATC)but could find no evidence of it ever being done and thought it unlikely it ever would be since airliners have two pilots.
There is a better article on this emergency at http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/apr/14/conn-pilot-part-team-helps-passenger-land [naplesnews.com]