Passenger ‘lands’ Meridian at Martha’s Vineyard 7/15

benyflyguy

benyflyguy

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benyflyguy said:
Kudos to the passenger here. Bent metal but got it on the ground after the 79 yo pilot had a medical emergency.

Passenger takes controls of small airplane from ailing pilot and crash lands in Martha's Vineyard

A passenger of a small airplane took the controls and crash landed on a Massachusetts island on Saturday after the pilot suffered a medical emergency, police said. The 79-year-old male pilot suffered...
www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com
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Interesting. I think the new ones have an app for that.
 
We used to have a cartoon (I'm fairly certain it was Jeff McNeely's Shoe) that was labled "A good landing is one you can walk away from" and shows a airplane crashed into a barn and one pilot asks the other "How was my landing," and the other says "middlin'".
 
LOL

“The crash happened almost 24 years to the day after a Piper crash killed John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette and her sister Lauren Bessette off Martha's Vineyard.”
 
eman1200 said:
LOL

“The crash happened almost 24 years to the day after a Piper crash killed John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette and her sister Lauren Bessette off Martha's Vineyard.”
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I figured I was the only one that LOL’d
 
Some of the comments on Yahoo news demonstrate quite a bit of ignorance. One of the early ones state that a 79 yr old shouldn't be flying airplanes. Guess there should be an age limit for flying, driving, what else?
 
murphey said:
Some of the comments on Yahoo news demonstrate quite a bit of ignorance. One of the early ones state that a 79 yr old shouldn't be flying airplanes. Guess there should be an age limit for flying, driving, what else?
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Not age limits, but perhaps testing every once in a while. As pilots, we get that every couple of years, and much more if flying for revenue. Plus medicals every two years, or less, or BasicMed exams (this pilot had a regular third class) which are somewhat better than the FAA "touch your toes, can you hear me" test.
 
Kenny Phillips said:
Not age limits, but perhaps testing every once in a while. As pilots, we get that every couple of years, and much more if flying for revenue. Plus medicals every two years, or less, or BasicMed exams (this pilot had a regular third class) which are somewhat better than the FAA "touch your toes, can you hear me" test.
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Since this one was recent, more frequent testing alone wouldn’t have helped. More thorough examinations (adding EKG, blood,...), perhaps?
 
Kenny Phillips said:
Not age limits, but perhaps testing every once in a while. As pilots, we get that every couple of years, and much more if flying for revenue. Plus medicals every two years, or less, or BasicMed exams (this pilot had a regular third class) which are somewhat better than the FAA "touch your toes, can you hear me" test.
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The Short answer is Medical Exams for the most part are very poor at predicting medical events.

For that matter to quote an ER doctors I was seeing, "we are much better at telling you what you don't have, than telling you what you do have"
to paraphrase, we don't know what wrong, if it doesn't go away in a few days come back.

Back in the 90's the FAA proposed requiring 3rd class Medicals for Glider pilots. So a historical study was initiated over a I think a 20 year period of glider accidents. During that time frame it was found that there were zero accidents attributed to medical issues that might have been prevented had a medical certificate had been required. On the other hand they found 2 incidents where the glider tow pilot holding a 3rd class medical had a heart attack while towing. Statistically this indicated that pilots were more likely to have a medical issue if they did hold a 3rd class medical.

To be fair since then there have been a few glider accidents that have been attributed to medical issues, but almost all gliders are single place aircraft with no passengers involved. Generally the FAA is more concerned about passenger and bystander safety than they are the pilots safety. They figure the pilots should be aware of the risks, where passengers and bystanders often do not.

Brian
 
Half Fast said:
Since this one was recent, more frequent testing alone wouldn’t have helped. More thorough examinations (adding EKG, blood,...), perhaps?
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As the government determines that I am "elderly", I subjectively object, but objectively agree.
Of course, many of use keep up on that stuff anyway. We'll see what the actual issue was (could be low blood glucose, or hypoxia due to a pressurization issue, or a heart attack, or stroke, etc.) and then see if was "catchable" or not. Often things are not.
 
eman1200 said:
LOL

“The crash happened almost 24 years to the day after a Piper crash killed John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette and her sister Lauren Bessette off Martha's Vineyard.”
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Because that's SO relevant... must be a conspiracy!
 
Impressed that she got the aircraft back to the runway environment. Odds of survival so much better even if you don’t actually stay on the runway.
 
With winds out of 190 degrees at 13 to gusting to 19 knots he had a challenging 130 degree downwind / crosswind landing using R/W 6. Wonder why he didn't use R/W 24? Probably in cardiac arrest and needed to get on the ground, then arriving too fast to land on 6.

Transitioning into the go-around got his heart pumping even faster for sure.
 
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