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Passenger Lands Plane After Pilot Collapses and Dies At the Controls
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "NBC reports that flying instructors at Humberside Airport, near the city of Hull in northeast England, told a passenger who had never flown before how to land a four-seater Cessna 172 after the pilot collapsed and died at the controls. Passenger John Wildey explained to air traffic controllers that he had no flying experience and that the pilot could not control the plane. 'It came down with a bump, a bump, a bump, hit the front end down, I heard some crashing and it's come to a halt,' said Stuart Sykes. 'There were a few sparks and three or four crashes, that must have been the propeller hitting the floor. Then it uprighted again and it came to a stop.' Roads around the airport were closed while two incoming flights to the airport, from Scotland and the Netherlands, were delayed as a result of the incident. The passenger took four passes of the runway, and there were cheers from the control tower when it finally came to a halt on the ground. 'For somebody who is not a pilot but has been around airfields and been a passenger on several occasions to take control is nothing short of phenomenal," said Richard Tomlinson. "He made quite a good landing, actually,' added flight instructor Murray. 'He didn't know the layout of the airplane. He didn't have lights on so he was absolutely flying blind as well.'"
Typical pilots don't die mid-flight. More about pilot?
Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.
Because Obama has tons of influence in northeastern England.
So he basically winged it and hoped for the best?
No, that's not the meme, get it right. The meme is, "THANKS, Obama!
Yes.
The proverb among pilots is "Any landing you walk away from is a good landing".
Professional pilots obviously hold themselves to a higher standard than that, but for a first-time flyer that landing met the requirements completely.
He did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
In general, you're doing a good job if at all times you keep the plane between the two lights on the wingtips.
Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. Any landing you can walk away from and reuse the aircraft is a great one!
What part of "shall not be infringed" is so hard to understand?
Mythbusters had an episode like this. Basically they stuck Adam and Jaime in a commercial cockpit simulator with no prior familiarization or training and tested to see if they could successfully land a passenger plane with just flight controller coaching. They both were able to do it fairly easily.
I'm sure if you find yourself in this situation in real life, you have the additional element of stress to contend with, but mythbusters did attempt to show that landing a plane isn't all that complicated with modern controls.
The quote is extended among pilots to "and a great landing is where you can use the plane again".
That said, the aeronautical term for this is called a Pinch-Hitter (taken from baseball). Google brings up many courses (online and off), videos, articles etc of being a pinch-hitter pilot. You'll find most are for small GA aircraft where single pilot operations are common.
If you are a pilot, there are plenty of resources to which you can print out to help your passengers in the unlikely event they need to take over - these sheets include instructions on how to radio for help (basically, how to use the radio) and what to radio for help on. Your passenger briefing that you do before starting up should include instructions on how to work the radio as well.
I mean, is the landing "flare" really that hard?
No, that's not the meme, get it right. The meme is, "THANKS, Obama!
Uhhhh, A: this was in the UK. B: Really? REALLY?
Gee, Adam and Jaime are essentially geeks who are used to following technical directions -- what is so hard in that?
I sort of expected that his name would be John Berry.
Ezekiel 23:20
Fuck you.
For a more complex aircraft, maybe the next thing is a pencil and paper to copy some checklists? For all but the simplest GA aircraft, you are probably going to need to have a bunch of switches in the right positions?
(I am a student pilot, and I fly a Cessna 172)
This guy is clearly a badass, but his best trait is keeping his head on straight, knowing something about how airplanes work, and figuring out how to talk to someone. Landing is also a lot simpler if you don't care about damaging the plane (he had a prop strike) or landing on a runway that's not 4x longer than you'd usually use. Once you can talk to someone who's flown planes, you're pretty much OK as long as you don't melt down - do what they tell you, which will probably consist of a crash course in flying (what the instruments are, what's important about them, how to control the plane, etc) followed by directions to fly the plane onto the runway and hold on tight. Normally there's more finesse involved in touching down smoothly, in a short distance, at a proper approach speed - but that goes out the window in an emergency.
I don't want to sound like I'm diminishing Mr. Wildey's accomplishment - keeping cool in that situation is very hard, and avoiding being a smoking hole in the ground is even harder with no experience. This guy should take some flying lessons, if this whole thing hasn't soured him on the idea of small planes. Maybe he can even log this in his logbook (not entirely kidding!).
For anybody regularly flies with somebody in a small plane, there are classes out there that will prepare you for exactly such an emergency - a few hours of basic flying, radios, and landings. Don't assume your flight sim experience will do you any good, except for maybe knowing what the instruments are. The most important part is keeping a cool head - you're eventually going to land, and it'll turn out a lot better if you keep calm and think it through.
I have developed a truly marvelous proof of this comment, which this signature is too narrow to contain.
I'm reminded of an episode of Mythbusters that showed Adam and Jamie trying to land a plane in a sim and failing horribly.
They tried ONCE with an air traffic controller helping talk them through it and landed successfully.
While it's wonderful that Mr.Wildey stepped up, the unnamed air traffic controller(s) also were key to this not being a bigger accident.
Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing.
The summary eludes to it, but the articles I've read so far on it fail to mention that the landing happened *when it was dark out*. I haven't seen a specific time of landing yet, but it's looking like it was well after sunset, which is why the note about not having lights on is so noteworthy.
Untrained landings under pressure are heroic feats as it is. Doing so as it's getting progressively darker outside turns it up to 11.
Actually yes, it IS difficult unless you've practiced it. And most of us who practiced it had an instructor who recovered the plane when we fucked it up. And every pilot fucked this up in training.
Flare too little / late: you smack into the runway. If you're descending too fast you're basically crashing right now. If you're nose down you could snap the front gear. Hit with all gear and you can still snap the front or wheelbarrow if you're too heavy on the front. Good chance you'll bounce too. If you're going too fast that bounce could be high and far, and you may bounce oddly if you didn't hit evenly - throwing you off to the side or what have you. Porpoising is particularly nasty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5ZzktAFJK4
Flare too soon: you balloon upwards and eat up runway fast. If you don't correct or abort you'll run out of runway fast.
Flare too much: you balloon upwards meaning you're getting high and approaching a stall. Stall and you'll slap down rather hard on the runway, potentially from enough height to kill yourself.
A good flare is a continual thing as well. It's not like you just pull back a bit and you're done... you need to keep pulling back to increase the flare as air speed and altitude decrease. Through that entire process you can go too much or too little, causing the issues above.
Oh, and keep in mind that since the plane is in a nose up attitude you can't really see ahead of you very well. You're judging your altitude over the runway largely via peripheral vision. And you height cues vary depending how wide the runway is!
Now try throwing some cross wind into that just to add to your day.
Screw it up and need to go around? There's more than just throwing in the throttle. You need to reduce your flaps, in stages, as you pull out. Slap those suckers full up and you may lose too much lift to soon and plane meets ground rather harshly.
Personally if the idea of landing a plane with zero training doesn't scare the piss out you, you probably don't have a good enough understanding of what you're about to attempt.
His name is Otto.
Table-ized A.I.
This is not a troll, it is a valid statement and question regarding the health of the site. Your differing opinion is not justification for modding a comment a "troll", read your guidance.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
Cessna 127 doesn't have autopilot AFAIK, a Garmin (display upgrade) at best /pedantic nerd mode.
"Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
Great movie for the puns..
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
I pointed it out exactly 1 time. There were 6 posts when I responded to this thread and none of them mentioned the same thing.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
That was kind of the point, which is why I asked why this story was here. I expect to find it on cnn, fox, msnbc, but not here.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
John Boehner just released a statement: "This incident clearly proves pilots are not essential and we can get by without them. Let us furlough them, profit destroying, union joining, commie socialistic, moochers."
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Yes.
The proverb among pilots is "Any landing you walk away from is a good landing".
Professional pilots obviously hold themselves to a higher standard than that, but for a first-time flyer that landing met the requirements completely.
My sig for a while was "Any landing you walk away from is a good landing. - Flight sim pilot"
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
"He didn't have lights on so he was absolutely flying blind as well." You know, just for dramatic effect, and stuff.
Maybe it wasn't the lights. Maybe he had peril sensitive sunglasses on.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
It's here because it is a nerd's dream disaster scenario. Jocks dream of making a triple play to win the game. Nerds dream of being at the controls of a plane in distress and bringing it in to a safe landing.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
A nerds dream is not to try and land a plane, a nerds dream is to land a space ship (or get laid, depending on who's stereo type you prefer).
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
"Slashdot News for Nerds", not "News to make you feel good". I don't see other stories here of similar nature, like the guy rescuing a cat from a tree.
No, I'm not trying to get reaction. I posted my opinion in answer to my own question. I never ever post for reaction. You can review my post history if you like, and should have done that prior to making a false accusation. I post my opinion and statements of fact.
Posting for reaction would be critiquing the guys landing and claiming if they were of a particular race they would have done better or worse. Or claiming it's "obama's fault" like some other poster did.
It's not difficult to see that you and the mod are wrong. If the story was accepted for publishing and someone's ass hurts because it's questioned too bad.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
Untrained landings under pressure are heroic feats as it is. Doing so as it's getting progressively darker outside turns it up to 11.
Actually, flying at night is much easier than in the day, if you're anywhere near civilization and the lights they bring with them. It only becomes really hazardous if you're over a large patch of unlit terrain and you lose spatial awareness.
It is SO much easier to find the airport at night when it is all lit up like a Christmas tree. You aren't looking at every empty space trying to determine if it is an airport or not. When you're lined up with the runway, you know you're lined up with the runway. It's unmistakable. If the ground controller turns on the rabbits (instrument approach lights) there is NO chance you will not find the airport. That's what those lights are there for -- to help pilots flying in the soup find the airport. In the clear at night, it's lovely and simply amazing.
Yes, there is a tendency to descend early and smack the ground before the runway starts. This guy had 1) someone on the radio telling him when to descend, he wasn't using his own judgement, and 2) he had a long runway for a small plane. It doesn't matter if he landed deliberately long.
Yes, C172s can have autopilots. It depends on how much money you want to spend. The "display upgrade" you refer to might be called the G1000, a glass cockpit flight system that replaces a large number of other instruments on the panel. Combined with an autopilot, this turns flying the airplane into a full-scale video game.
They've taken the "News for nerds" lines out everywhere except for one place that is only seen for a fraction of a second anymore because of pedants like you who feel the need to criticize every article that deviates from your perceived expectations of the site.
You don't need to be the person doing it in every article, but there is always someone. You just happened to draw the card today. We're sorry Slashdot doesn't base all its article decisions on what your personal beliefs are regarding the nature of this website. You're welcome to go to the firehose section and condemn any articles you disagree with appearing on the site. Otherwise you're just going to have to get over it or find a new website that caters to your specific needs.
Flying a Cessna 172 is not hard. I landed one my first time out with coaching from a flying instructor.
No, you didn't. No, you fucking didn't, and every pilot reading this knows it. No instructor would let you try.
At best, if you've shown exceptional ability, and if your instructor was a bit crazy (I don't know of any crazy enough to do this on a student's first flight myself), you held on to the yoke during the entire landing procedure, while your instructor was handling flaps, throttle corrections, and keeping his hands on his yoke as well. The he guided you by saying when to flare, told you to do it very slowly, while he himself flared. He told you to stop after he had already stopped it, because you were moving the yoke gently enough that your pressure could be resisted by the instructor's control.
Also, the entire time you were doing the pattern, the instructor was correcting for your piss poor turn coordination by doing most of the work with the rudders. During your first flight, he probably helped a lot when you were high up in the air too, and you wouldn't even notice it. No student is ever naturally good at that, it takes practice because there's no analog to the feel of it on the ground. What you claim you did is a little bit like a kid claiming he was told how to ride a bike, then hopped on one the first time, and immediately rode it. It's not possible. You haven't developed the motor coordination skills for the activity. You need to do the activity a bunch of times in order to do so.
I had a similar experience back in 2000. My dad died during the second quarter of Super Bowl XXXIV. I had the Rams, giving 6 points, and my dad had the remote control in his hand. I had no other choice, but to wrest the remote from his stiffening fingers and take over in the Lazy-Boy. Let me tell you, the half-time show, narrated by actor Edward James Olmos, with it's Walt Disney World's millennium celebration theme, lost a lot of its luster for me, sitting in the lap of my recently deceased father (he was too heavy to move from the chair). It featured a full symphony orchestra; a multi-generational, 80-person choir; and singers Phil Collins, Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias, and Toni Braxton. However, the fact that my dad had voided his bowels as he went to be with Jesus did somewhat lessen my enjoyment of the festivities, not to mention the large pot of turkey chili that was sitting on the coffee table.
But, six points is six points, so I bravely continued despite my discomfort and the smell, and cheered on the Rams, who overcame the 15 yard penalty committed by defensive back 'Dre Bly in the 4th quarter, and went on to dispatch the Titans by 7 points, covering my point spread and putting a cool $1900 in my pocket. And of course, I took a tenner right off the top to buy a floral arrangement at the Wal-Mart in memory of my dad (though later that night I brought said floral arrangment to the gentleman's club to give to a certain dancer, who was my dad's favorite and who would later become my wife).
Let me tell you, it was a harrowing experience. Just before Rams linebacker Mike Jones tackled Titans wide receiver Kevin Dyson at the one-yard line in the final play of the game, I thought I might have a similar experience of the lower-GI tract as my sainted father, since I had bet a grand but only had about thirty dollars to my name. Touch and go for a bit, let me tell you. But the good Lord was with me on this particular Sunday, or maybe it was my dad, watching the second half on the big screen in heaven, who put a word in with the Big Guy.
When it was all over, it seemed like a lot to clean up, so I just turned the gas oven on and closed the window. I heard the sound of the explosion as I was getting on I-80 on my way to my bookie's house to collect. Let me tell you, it was one memorable day.
You are welcome on my lawn.
By my reckoning there were two, maximum three comments that should have been modded 5 in this discussion. Can't we have a system that ranks these up and saves me reading dross? I also have a strong feeling in this case that most readers and moderators would agree on the two or three that should be at the top.
work in progress
People are also free to express an alternative opinion instead of using Mod points to squelch and censor opinions that they do not agree with. Mod points are not supposed to be used for censorship purposes. When you take a valid opinion and mod them down/troll/flamebait, that is censoring. Read the Mod guidelines.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
The ones you run away from are sketchy. (fly 40 year old military aircraft)
The proverb among pilots is "Any landing you walk away from is a good landing".
wow paraplegics must make terrible pilots
how many pairs of boxer shorts should you own?
I've been in 2-4 passenger planes before, but it has been quite some time. If someone knows this plane, I'd be interested to hear what the front visibility is from the pilot's seat. Could he see the runway in front of him while coming in, or did he have a wall of instruments blocking his sight? Some people might think that wouldn't make a big difference, but if you're not sure what you're doing, and you can't see straight ahead (aircraft lights on or not) the situation is a little more terrifying.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
I don't speak to the Troll moderation done on your post, but angry/annoyed/upset people will do things they're not supposed to when they have the power to do them. The correct moderation, should any have been applied at all, should have probably been -1, Offtopic. The article comments section is not the place to discuss Slashdot politics. I don't think you could reasonably convince anyone that "this article doesn't belong here" is in the spirit of discussion the comments section is supposed to promote.
But I digress, continuing this will get neither of us anywhere. We all get moderation we don't deserve because some egghead thinks his opinion is more valid than ours. It's just a fact of life here that is never going to change as long as users have the power to moderate.
but which ones are 52 through 57?
Agreed it's easier to fly at night, but landings without some kind of aid (VASI / PAPI) can be a real pain in the ass if you're out of practice. Without the aids, unless you do it all the time, setting up a flare over a dark patch of concrete and waiting to be surprised when the wheels touch is not a comfortable feeling.
but which ones are 52 through 57?
BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Yukon.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
Huh?
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
Looking at the youtube video, that was probably the lousiest landing in the history of the airport. But there are some, particularly me, who would like to buy him a drink.
Came here for airplane jokes, not disappointed :)
Roger, roger...
I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
Wait, there is a pink page?
This sig is not paradoxical or ironic.
BBC national news picked this up and reported that the pilot died after the landing. I am however mindful of the adage that almost nobody dies in an ambulance, because the paramedics are not qualified to pronounce death. My first aid course of yore stated that 'death may be pronounced by a layman if the head is permanently severed from the body'. I've always wondered about the 'permanent' clause. A bit like Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington?
If you are an Airplane! Fan you must watch Zero Hour. Airplane! is completely based in this movie scene for scene. It's supposed to be a drama but once you know all of Airplane jokes it basically acts like the straight man where you can supply they punch lines.
Hi Joey. Have you ever been in a cockpit?
Johnny, how about some coffee?
Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop smoking.
A hospital what is it?
I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
The bit from Die Hard 2 is "Any landing you walk away from is a good landing".
FTFY.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Your differing opinion is not justification for modding a comment a "troll", read your guidance.
Yeah it's getting trollish these days. Half of the threads seem to have someone who failed to read the last half of the website tagline ("stuff that matters"). Basically it's crap.
The website was always (originally) Rob Malda's blog. He posted stuff that was interesting. Mostly tech, but not always. It's still essentially the same site.
Anyway, some guy operates complex and unfamiliar piece of machinery with only remote assistance is an interesting subject and suitable for nerds. Turns out there are quite a lot of aeroplane nerds on slashdot and they've come out of the woodwork to provide interesting and insightful comments.
Especially the comments about flaring. Having flown gliders, I never even though about that aspect of it. Landing them is quite different in that you by default come in too shallow, and you modulate the air brake to descend faster. Taking care of course not to drop like a stone through the wind shear.
Oh and all the comments on the relative merits and usefulness of flight simulators.
So yeah, I'd say that a post half way down on an already healthy and technically insightful thread whining about the off topicness is at best off topic and at worst a troll.
And now I'm flaming you, so successful troll was successful.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
My instructor would strongly disagree. As does the FAA. And the people who have to pay for plane overhauls.
If information wants to be free, why does my internet connection cost so much?
Don't sully this with your.... facts.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
Oh I agree, you shouldn't be modded troll. You should be modded off-topic because nobody cares if you feel this belongs on the site or not.
Get over yourself.
and please don't call me Shirley.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
It's the only way to fly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i415QwSj0Og
"Well, good luck finding a judge that doesn't run a bestiality site."
What's our vector, Victor?
20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
Bring back Microsoft flight simulator
I'll disagree. At night depth perception is lost (there are plenty of articles available on this), so queues to your AGL height are lost. I have a few hundred daytime landings under my belt, and the nighttime lands definitely raise the pucker factor.
Just another day in Paradise
I had several instructors (got my ticket back in the '80s), and most all of them said it at one time or another. I'd be amazed if yours hasn't at least heard the phrase.
Just another day in Paradise
A nerds dream is not to try and land a plane, a nerds dream is to land a space ship (or get laid, depending on who's stereo type you prefer).
YMMV. Knowing that I'd never have the opportunity to land a space ship, the next best thing was landing an airplane. Don't like the article, don't read it. And at a minimum, don't rage about it...it tends to get you modded down.
Just another day in Paradise
I want to die peacefully in my bed like my grandfather, not screaming in terror like his passengers.
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
I'll disagree. At night depth perception is lost (there are plenty of articles available on this), so queues to your AGL height are lost.
You don't have a queue of AGLs, you have just one. And your depth perception isn't lost, you just might not be able to judge absolute distances well. That's normal during the daytime, too. That's why a sensitive altimeter is a requirement for VFR flight. That's only if you really care what your altitude is and not just "somewhere above ground". The guy who was being coached into this landing didn't need to know his absolute height.
It really isn't that hard to keep a plane at night above 0 AGL. Really. I've done it. And when I want to keep it at 2000 MSL, I never do it by reference to the ground.
I have a few hundred daytime landings under my belt, and the nighttime lands definitely raise the pucker factor.
Yes, nighttime landings are more interesting, but landings are only a part of flying. Flying at night, in general, is easier, for the reasons I gave.
Sorry, wrong country. The article clearly states that it was in the UK