Passenger lands plane in Fla. after pilot dies

[JoeTomasone]

From the local news:

Passenger lands plane in Fla. after pilot dies

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) -- A passenger landed a twin-engine plane at Southwest Florida International Airport after the pilot died in flight, saving five people.

Federal Aviation Administration officials say the pilot died after takeoff from Marco Island Executive Airport on Sunday. The plane was on autopilot and climbing passed 10,000 feet when the pilot died.

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 instruct him, an air traffic controller called a friend in Connecticut who is rated to fly the King Air aircraft. The plane landed safely in about 15 to 20 minutes.

The plane had been headed to Jackson, Miss. The names of the pilot and passengers have not been released.

[caprr275]

More details are emerging on Sunday's pilot incapacitation incident that is coming to be known in air-traffic circles as the "Easter miracle." Passenger Doug White was flying to Louisiana with his wife and two daughters when the pilot of their Super King Air died at the controls. White is a licensed pilot with about 130 hours in a single-engine Cessna, but he had never flown a larger, faster turboprop like the King Air. Two air traffic controllers guided him to a safe landing and a third relayed detailed instructions from a King Air pilot reached via phone. In celebrating the story's happy ending, AOPA noted that such incidents are extremely rare: Of an estimated 15 million to 20 million general aviation flights in 2007, there were only six reported cases of a pilot's medical incapacitation

[EMT-83]

The pilot (Kari Sorenson) and controller (Dan Favio) are well known to our squadron. Back in 2007, these two moved about a dozen planes away from a burning building when a local FBO caught fire.

Definitely the type of guys you would want around if something goes wrong.

[JayT]

That dad who brought the plane down is a steely eyed missle man in my book.