Passenger Lands King Air
 

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

World news Feed Article | World news | guardian.co.uk

Passenger lands a Beechcraft King after the pilot passes away.
 

The person who landed the plane was a passenger(also a pilot) who was not multi engine rated.

Passenger lands plane after pilot dies | WFTS-TV
It could have ended so differently.
Five people on board a plane that took off from Marco Island Executive Airport Sunday got back on the ground safely after the pilot of their private plane died mid-air.
One passenger assisted by three air traffic controllers and a pilot relaying cockpit instructions from Connecticut worked together to avoid further tragedy.
The pilot’s name and cause of death were not available as of Sunday night, nor were the names of the five passengers on the Beechcraft King Air 55 twin-engine plane. Due to Federal Aviation Administration rules, the names of the air traffic controllers who helped bring the plane down have not been released, said FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen.
Steven Wallace, a representative for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association in Miami, said the flight turned harrowing soon after take-off, as the plane was in the process of climbing to 10,000 feet. The pilot checked in with the Miami air control tower once he left the air space monitored by the Marco controllers.
“Our controller who was working the afternoon rush tried to acknowledge him and give him climbing instructions and he never responded to us,” said Wallace, who was present during the radio discussions and monitored the radar to watch the plane’s progress.
Eventually, another voice came on the radio from the twin-engine plane. One of five passengers on board said the pilot had passed out and that the plane was still climbing on auto-pilot. What followed was a dicey 15 or 20 minutes in which several controllers worked to continue directing the normal flow of Sunday afternoon air traffic, all while helping the passenger disengage auto pilot on the plane and begin descending to Southwest Florida International Airport, which was, by then, the nearest runway.
At one point, said Wallace, the man who took control of the aircraft said he believed the pilot was dead.
“It’s kind of like being the traffic policeman standing in the highway in the middle of rush hour,” said Wallace. “The traffic on the highway doesn’t stop. (The controller was) trying to work all of these other airplanes while this emergency was going on.”
The passenger who took the controls and was in contact with the control tower in Miami, and subsequently in Fort Myers, has single-engine plane experience, said Bergen. He had been a pilot since at least 1990. However, he was not certified to fly a twin-engine plane like the King Air, which is a large luxury plane, said Wallace. To instruct him on how to maneuver the plane and bring it back to earth, one air traffic controller got on the phone with a friend in Connecticut who is rated to fly the King Air aircraft.
While on the phone with the friend, the controller radioed information to the passenger that helped land the plane safely at Southwest Florida International.
“Controllers are a unique bunch of folks,” said Wallace. “Not all of them know how to fly but when it comes to crunch time, you pull all of your resources together.”
Bergen said it is not unusual for controllers who have pilot experience to “participate in resolving situations.”
Wallace was quick to give kudos to everyone involved. He said no airplanes were delayed or redirected while air traffic controllers were helping land the King Air, and said the passenger-turned-pilot executed the landing like an old pro. It was a bitter moment, though, said Wallace, given the fact that FAA controllers recently shouldered a significant pay cut.
“The three here and at Fort Myers approach were all in a very unique situation where the FAA has cut their pay 30 percent and said, ‘They’re not worth what we pay them,’” Wallace said.
The plane, which was en route to Jackson, Miss., is owned by White Equipment Leasing LLC, in Archibald. La., according to the FAA Web site.

One for their grandchildren. Very, very well done to all involved. :D :D :D

Passenger lands King Air after pilot dies in flight.
 

From Yahoo News:
Passenger lands plane in Fla. after pilot dies - Yahoo! News

No additional info yet about the experience level of the PPL passenger.

What an achievement by both sides. Did the Pilot die or just Passed Out as described?

Well done to all concerned.
 

This happened at Cardiff Wales some time ago. Chap with no flying experience was talked down by ATC and instructor after the pilot died at the controls.

One can only admire all concerned in this new case. To bring a twin home safely in these circumstances is some feat and a credit to ATC and all concerned.

Just a thought
 

I've been a professional pilot for 35 years. I still can't do MSFS. Flying and computer sim games are 2 completely different things.

Foretold by Arthur Hailey in the book Runway Zero-Eight (1958). The pax who landed that plane beat it up a bit, though. This guy yesterday pulled it off with nary a popped rivet. :ok:

Aircraft are difficult to land when you have to fly them by hand. However, if the aircraft is sufficiently automated (including autoland) and there is someone on the radio to give instructions, anyone who is moderately intelligent and can follow those instructions can land the aircraft.

No flight simulation experience would be necessary. In fact, I speculate that a person who follows instructions to the letter and reports his observations with precision would be more valuable than someone who does not, even if the former has no flying experience (real or simulated) and the latter does.

These recent incidents prove that it's possible. The difficult part of flying is controlling the aircraft by hand; remove that, and it's just procedures. There comes a point when the automation is sufficient to allow anyone to carry out procedures by simply following instructions, and for many scenarios in commercial transport aircraft, that point has been reached.

Things that require coordination and judgement also require practice to master. But a step-by-step procedure for flying and landing an aircraft with automation requires neither coordination nor judgement, and thus can be executed by any normal person without practice, once the procedure is provided.

And of course the Kingair can autoland........:ugh:

Must be the 'Super' version to have that option...

Don't all single engine pilots sitting down in a commerical flight think to themselves, "well, i bet i could fly this if something was to happen to the aircrew?"

I don't agree and I think that this is based on a misunderstanding of what "autoland" means. On real aircraft there is no button labelled "autoland" that takes care of everything while you sit there grinning. Even if such a thing existed no King Air ever had it.

And, slightly OT, I have to admit that I am pleased to read that other people find real flying easier than MSFS since I have the same experience.

Hard Part
 

The risk in such a situation is the panic factor if something goes wrong... example a runaway trim, or letting the nose pop up with flap deployment. Some people might go into panic withdrawal, unable to function. Over-control is also a danger.... example trying to fix a bounced landing by pushing forward.

Seems to me that the real issue for a PPSEL taking control of a King Air would be in running the systems more than dealing with twin engines per se. Turbine procedures, prop pitch, AP, gear, HSI vs. DG, etc. And the fact that everything's happening a little faster. In terms of steering the plane around the sky, a King Air is closer to a Warrior than to a 737.

So long as the engines keep delivering symmetrical thrust, having two of them instead of one is the least of the worries.

Nevetrheless, good work all around.

Somehow I don't think so. Or that might be a thought by the minority of people. There are definitely ''it would be fun to fly this'' thoughts :ok:

Based on a couple recent accidents discussed in Pprune, I'm beginning to wonder if there aren't some "heavy iron" crew who could not manage to handfly a Warrior to a successful landing! :eek:

Anthony GA,

You sound very authoritive in your post. I was particularly convinced when you stated that " The difficult part of flying is controlling the aircraft by hand, remove that and it's just proceedures"
Then I remembered that my personal opinion was in opposition to this, and while I have thousands of hours flying airliners , you seem to spend 90% of your time in the "Spectators Balcony" part of Pprune, which lead me to wonder....why do you feel so sure of yourself on this subject?
Decision making, discipline, CRM, consistancy......they're the easy bit aye? Pointing the plane at the runway now thats tricky :D

PS good on the people involved in getting the job done, very impressive.

From my experience, owners down the back rarely have the ability to win at "Find Your Foot".

Well done all involved!