Passenger Lands Plane After Pilot Dies

Happy Holidays to those celebrating them. We’ll be trying to catch up with things as the holiday week comes to a close.

Today, however, a tragedy was averted when a passenger landed a twin-engine turboprop in Ft. Myers after the pilot had a seizure and died. One of the passengers was fortunately a licensed pilot, but not certified to fly that type of aircraft. However, with the help of air traffic control, he was able to make an emergency landing.

The plane was flying from Marco Island to Jackson, MS and was a Beechcraft King Air two-engine turboprop plane. While there have been similiar issues before, it is not common for a laymen, even one with aviation training, to be talked through a landing by air traffic control, despite the number of times this happens in the movies.

It was certainly impressive, and it is fortunate that no one was hurt.

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