Re: Report: Pilot "froze" mid flight
I knew a skipper once who was flying a B737 into a regional UK airport that he wasn't familiar with. On finals, he froze up, aborted landing. On third attempt, FO took control. Plenty of runway, just a mild wind, nothing unusual.
Turns out it was the anniversary of his fathers death and something had triggered his grief. He lost his nerve and concentration temporarily and couldn't land it.
He was and still is I believe one of the most swithced on skippers I had ever flown with. Something just got to him that day.
There are reasons you rarely see a commercial flight flown solo.