Not if your in a fist fight with a lunatic..

Hilarious wording...

It would seem that the pilot has done a damn fine job in the circumstances if indeed the man (even elderly) was actually intent on disrupting the flight.


The fact that the pax appears to be injured and the plane came down off field would indicate pilot was seriously struggling.


It would be very hard to fight off a surprise attack from a seat next to you, let alone continue to fly a disabled aircraft.


Hats off to the pilot in what would have probably been a seriously frightening incident. Poor bugger.

Given the amount of booze old Charlie & co. could put away it sure would be!

DF.

Interesting on the news tonight. Very young pilot. Pax was a pilot for over 50 years they say. A reverend. News had audio grabs from the Pan calls.

WTF???

Ken May.
 

Nobody picked up on my previous. The story in brief: Basair looks like it evolved from Navair. Ken May, Navair Principal was the pilot who took a chap for a joyflight to the Hills district near Sydney and was somehow incapacitated to the extent the passenger took control and crashed the aircraft into his girlfriends house killing both on board. I don't recall any injuries on the ground. Just history to be aware of.

Perhaps it was a CASA inspector?? :E

Bit spooky the photo of him beside Riama...

Kaz

Geez after watching the video and hearing his pan call, one of the most stressful moments of his flying career most likely and he still managed to get 9 pans and 3 call signs out. Poor bastard I bet he's shaken up. Only one of them could win the punch-up and he's bloody lucky it was him!

Good on you James, what you managed to do was impressive, particularly at 23 :ok:

Technically I presume you would call this a hijacking. There have been very few such events in this country as noted earlier.

Amazing job by the pilot. Also excellent work by ATC, it must be tough to maintain normal ops when something like this happens.

Shouldn't this thread be titled "Duchess emergency landing"?


Congratulations to James Chandler for his splendid airmanship.

Once had a drunken oily going nuts in the back of an Aztec on the approach. Fortunately, the guy in the RHS hadn't been drinking and Mr Freakout's buddies calmed him down.
I asked ATC for a police presence at the terminal but there was no further trouble.
Something to think about if you're operating single crew.

Press Release Australia By Air

Snippets from Les Nixon Passenger

That's what I thought too. Bet he didn't have time to squawk 7600 though!

DF.

Maybe he didn't squawk 7500 but he left his flaps down. :E

Until I saw a side on photo late yesterday (as opposed to the one from behind with the aircraft in a dip which looked like a belly landing),
I didn't realise just how good a landing it was.

Another one to add to the Pilot's Stories page - Pilot's Stories . He's led a life.

Well done the pilot. :ok: I hope the old bloke is ok.

The pax conveniently remembers nothing.

It's regrettably consistent at this very preliminary stage with an insurance/suicide attempt, but no real proof. This should always be at the back of any G/A pilot's mind. Those intending suicide often prioritize their family's welfare (insurance) over the innocent pilots or other pax. It still is a suspected motive in MH370. Very unpleasant either way for the pax's family.

I know of one pax in an Otter many years a go who tried to jump out and nearly succeeded, but was restrained by other pax. After he calmed down they let him go and he made another dart for the door. It turned out to just be extreme claustrophobia, not attempted suicide, but this elderly pax was an experienced pilot.