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Posted on 01/25/2007 7:47:42 AM PST by CedarDave
Albuquerque businessman Stephen W. Brown doesn't consider himself a hero.
But when a medical emergency struck down the captain of a nearly full Continental Airlines jet flying to Mexico, Brown climbed out of his passenger seat and into the cockpit.
The 47-year-old licensed private pilot, who usually flies a single-engine Cessna, helped land the Boeing 757-300 loaded with 209 other passengers at McAllen-Miller International Airport in McAllen, Texas, on Saturday.
The plane had taken off from Houston on a flight to Puerto Vallarta when the co-pilot called for help. Brown responded.
"Yes, it was a rush," Brown told the Journal in an e-mail Wednesday from Puerto Vallarta, where he was still on a business vacation. "A combination of sheer excitement and shock kept my heart racing from beginning to end.
"I suppose most private pilots daydream about this sort of scenario where assistance is needed on the flight deck," he said. "The sad part, of course, is how I ended up on the flight deck." The captain later died.
While a few flight attendants and passengers tended to the stricken pilot, the co-pilot took over as captain of the plane. He then asked over the intercom whether there were any pilots on board.
"There's nothing wrong with that," said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Roland Herwig, who confirmed Brown's role in the emergency landing. "The (acting) captain can take any action for the sake of safety."
~~ snip ~~
The co-pilot-turned-captain told Brown that he had 28 years of experience.
"At that moment, I was undoubtedly the least nervous person on the plane," Brown said. "I knew, while technically it was deemed an 'emergency situation,' the captain would land the aircraft without incident."
Brown's role was to perform some standard radio work, co-review checklists and lower flaps and landing gear as instructed.
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
For your PING list...
Thankfully, Steve Brown didn't eat the fish that was served on that flight.
Wonder how many frequent flyer miles Continental gives him for that..
Nice to see a story about an American stepping up to the plate, and get some recognition for it. Nice Landing!
Wonder how many everyday hero's there are in America, acting and moving on? More than I can count I'll bet!
If you want on or off my aerospace ping list, please contact me by Freep mail.
Where was Doris Day when you needed her?
Who's Doris Day?? hehehehe
Note to self: Spend a few more hours with MicroSoft Flight Simulator ...
Seriously, the copilot-turned-Captain utilized excellent CRM (Cockpit Resource Management) by calling in re-enforcements (the Pilot/Passenger).
While smaller jets (Cessna Citation, Lear, etc) can be flown single-pilot, a 757 requires one person to handle 'housekeeping' (radios, GPS, checklists, etc) while the other actually flys the plane. The Passenger-now-Co-Pilot was assigned the 'housekeeping'.
Whether large (757) or small (Cessna 172), the standardization skills learned during flight training (procedures, air traffic protocols, in-cockpit routines, etc.) remain pretty much the same. It becomes a transferrable skill set.
I wasn't aware that a Private Pilot/passenger had been pressed into service, but the Captain showed good judgement by not allowing his own ego ("I can save the day all by my self") get in the way.
Both pilots, in my book, are "cool dudes"...
And then a flight attendant made her way to the luggage compartment to retrieve clean, fresh underwear for the rest of the passengers.
Yes, no doubt that made at least a few passengers wish they were wearing Depends.
Brown, who has logged 150 hours of flight time since he got his pilot's license 1 1/2 years ago, got the nod over his companion.
"When I sat in the right seat, the captain looked at me and asked, 'When was the last time you flew?' '' he said. "I told him last week and he said, 'Good, you're current.'
Certainly having a knowledgeable pilot acting as an emergency co-pilot made the captain a lot more comfortable about the task in front of him.
I've flown as a passenger a couple of times on a private corporation twin engine prop aircraft with a pilot who was past retirement age (65). I wondered what would happen if something happened to him in flight and none of us know how to pilot a plane. BTW, is there a federal age maximum (70 or so) beyond which you can not pilot a plane?
No. BUT, this excerpt is from the AOPA (Aircraft Owners And Pilots) website...
Unless you're an airline pilot, the FAA doesn't care about age, and airplanes don't either (airline pilots are required by law to retire at age 60, but there are no age restrictions on other types of flying). You can be a real duffer (we'll use 85 years old as the entry level to dufferdom) and the FAA medical examiner and the FAA won't bat an eye. Both the medical and actual flight instruction are demonstrated-ability situations: If you can pass the tests, you're in. If you can't, you're out, and that applies across the board regardless of age.
Airline pilots, BTW, are pushing to have the 60 year rule raised to 65. The guys and gals love to fly! My own father qualified as a Cessna Citation jet single pilot..... at 73!
Your 60+ y.o. corporate pilot flies under a commercial/charter provision of the FAA rules. And why not? How often have read about a case of the pilot having a 'medical problem' causing incapacitation such as posted on this thread?
Still, that's another reason why there are two licensed pilots (the co-pilot is fully licensed) up in that cockpit....
The radio experience isn't critical - it's only part of the 'housekeeping'; the discipline-under-stress ability to follow direction/instruction is what counts.
No one else being a pilot, bet an ex-military type would have stepped forward to lend a hand... and done just fine.
Great story...thanks for the (((PING))).
I gave a bi-annual to a guy who was 80 one time. He was an ex-747 captian, and I worked him pretty hard to see if he would ge confused or behind the curve, but he did just great. He had this little plastic kneeboard checklist and anything that I had him do he had a checklist in there and could pull it up and do it in seconds. He was a little totering physically, but he had a valid medical, and could fly the airplane, so I signed him off.
Compliments on your professionalism. That's the way its' suppose to work.
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