Just landed in Fort Meyers, FL about an hour ago. Coming in on the arrival, we were advised that we may have to hold due to an emergency aircraft at RSW. After being issued holding instructions, we heard from Center that the pilot of a King Air had died and approach was trying to talk down the aircraft now being flown by a passenger. Next thing we know, we were released from the hold and turned inbound on the arrival. While landing, we saw CFR on the air terminall ramp next to the King Air. Once clear of the runway and heading back by the King Air, we asked what happened. The ground controller said that the approach controller had talked him down. We asked if the passenger had any aviation experience. The ground controller believed that he was single engine rated. As we taxied by, we could see a body on a stretcher next to the King Air and a group of people standing near by.

Kudos to the controller and to the pilot/passenger for getting it down in one piece. It could have been a different story had he not had any experience. I'll be watching the local news to see if they have any credible, additional information.

Wow. There's was similar story a while back at North Las Vegas that a pilot of a Turbine Commandar had died and the passenger had crash landed the plane at N. Las Vegas. The passenger/non-pilot survived the crash.

Sad story...

....with a good outcome. Condolences to the family of the deceased pilot. Grateful that the passenger was also a pilot. Without a doubt...whatever the degree of his prior experience ...the passenger could draw upon that flight experience. It might not be pretty..... but most single engine pilots, even with limited experience, should be able to get a King Air on the ground safely. Especially as I understand it....the controller was relaying advice from an experienced King Air pilot.

Great job on behalf of everyone involved.

bob

Federal Aviation Administration officials say the pilot died after takeoff from an airport in Naples on Sunday. It was on autopilot and climbing toward 10,000 feet when the pilot died.
The passenger who took over is licensed for single-engine planes but isn't certified to fly the larger King Air craft.
An air traffic controller helped the passanger down by calling a friend in Connecticut who knows the King Air plane and relaying instructions. The plane landed safely at Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers.
The plane had been headed to Jackson, Miss. The names of the pilot and passengers have not been released.

Here's a link my friend sent me.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/13/florida.plane.emergency/index.html?eref=rss_topstories#cnnSTCVideo

YES , the passenger was the owner of the company and licensed SEL with about 1,000 hr TT and some multi time
he was aware and ready for immediate action

It now appears the passenger actually owned the plane, hence the DW number on the side of it, was a PP and had flown in it hundreds of times.. You would think after that many times he would have watched how the gear came down, props worked and whatever it took to land it. There is more to this story then has seen the light of day so far.

IMHO.

Ben.

From the FAA's new letter:

From the controller's perspective.

https://employees.faa.gov/news/focusfaa/story/index.cfm?newsId=58296

From the passenger/pilot perspective:

https://employees.faa.gov/news/focusfaa/story/index.cfm?newsId=58306

Also there is a recording of the last few minutes of the radio transmissions.

As you can read in the article, he had only about 200 hours and ZERO time in the B200. Although it doesn't say it specifically, I am led to believe he didn't have any mulit-engine time since they only referenced his single engine time. He definately WASN'T "aware and ready for immediate action". He didn't even know how to disengage the autopilot. It took good team work/coordination between 4 people to pull this off.

I agree to all that...

This is a clip from an article on one of those aviation websites reporting flying stuff..

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Laid-off pilot helped write happy ending in King Air incident
The Connecticut pilot who helped guide a King Air to a safe landing via telephone Sunday had more than 24 years of flying experience and knows the aircraft "like the back of his hand," according to Dan Favio, the air traffic controller who called him to assist in the emergency situation. Kari Sorensen helped passenger Doug White, himself a licensed pilot, disengage the King Air's autopilot and land safely after the pilot died at the controls. Sorensen, who lost his job as a corporate pilot more than a year ago, says he's just glad he was able to help: "Knowing that people's lives were saved, just knowing the made it to the ground, is a good thing." The Advocate (Stamford, Conn.) (4/13)
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

If any unemployed pilot needs to get a job this one should be a for sure replacement for the one who passed away.


Ben.

Stol wrote:It now appears the passenger actually owned the plane, hence the DW number on the side of it, was a PP and had flown in it hundreds of times.. You would think after that many times he would have watched how the gear came down, props worked and whatever it took to land it. There is more to this story then has seen the light of day so far.

IMHO.

Ben.

The fact that he owned the plane or sat right seat regularly (maybe even had a handfull of hours "touching the controls") hardly indicates he should have been able to saddle up and fly away.... This guy did an awesome job of keeping his cool and doing what he had to, to get the job done. Your post reminds me of a local DJ that thought just because he had a bazillion hrs of FS time he could land a 747. Through e-mail correspondence I challenged him to a cub flight. Turns out he couldn't even keep a cub straight and level... That experience did lead to him getting instruction and learning to fly for real though

Take care, Rob

Stol wrote:I agree to all that...

This is a clip from an article on one of those aviation websites reporting flying stuff..

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Laid-off pilot helped write happy ending in King Air incident
The Connecticut pilot who helped guide a King Air to a safe landing via telephone Sunday had more than 24 years of flying experience and knows the aircraft "like the back of his hand," according to Dan Favio, the air traffic controller who called him to assist in the emergency situation. Kari Sorensen helped passenger Doug White, himself a licensed pilot, disengage the King Air's autopilot and land safely after the pilot died at the controls. Sorensen, who lost his job as a corporate pilot more than a year ago, says he's just glad he was able to help: "Knowing that people's lives were saved, just knowing the made it to the ground, is a good thing." The Advocate (Stamford, Conn.) (4/13)
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

If any unemployed pilot needs to get a job this one should be a for sure replacement for the one who passed away.


Ben.

How cool would it be if this laid off pilot just landed himself a job flying a King Air.

I know this is an old post but I found this N559DW full flight with radar overlay - Doug White King Air landing. It's the hole time from when pilot died ,to his landing on tape and on radar,,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhMom-YH ... re=channel

This passenger - pilot was under one hell of a lot of stress. Not much was said on the audio tape, but he had five people on board the aircraft at the time of this event !!! He deserves a big applause for how he handeled the emergency !! Never lost his cool ! My hat is off to you !!!

For the record, passenger pilot had logged about 75 hours in a C-172 in 1989-1990 and received his private license. Soloed one time after that and then quit.

Fast forward 20 years and he begins to take lessons again, having to virtually 'start over.' He had logged about 70 hours in the past 4-5 months again, in a C-172. So, you can include your 1990 hours in TT but they are pretty much useless as far as current experience goes. He had no IFR experience, no AP, no multi, no right seat. Just routine 65-70 C-172 student hours.

He did own the plane but for tax-investment purposes, not to fly.

He had been on the plane only once before and the only thing he asked the pilot then was, "How do you talk on the radio?"

Only reason he and his family were even in Florida was because he had just buried his only sibling, a brother, who had dropped dead at 53, and they were bumming a ride home because the KA was in the area on a charter.

That's sure a different/interesting story.