Flight Student Pax Lands Commuter Plane
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Flight Student Pax Lands Commuter Plane
This doesn't happen often, except in Hollywood ("Airport '77", "Airplane!").... .__________________________________________
Flight student landed plane in emergency on Cape Cod
by Dave Wedge . .Sunday, February 10, 2002
As investigators try to determine why a pilot nearly passed out at the controls of a Cape Cod-bound small plane, the young woman who took over and miraculously landed the aircraft - without landing gear - is being hailed as a heroine.
"We are truly amazed at her efforts,'' Cape Air spokeswoman Michelle Haynes said of Melanie Oswalt. "She climbed into the seat and took the controls and landed that plane. It was an extraordinary effort.''
The high-flying drama unfolded around 8:15 p.m. Friday when a Cessna 402 en route from Martha's Vineyard to Hyannis made an emergency landing in a closed Provincetown airport. The pilot of the plane, whose name was not released, "became disoriented'' at the helm and nearly passed out. The pilot was described by Haynes as a man in his 50s with years of flying experience.
Oswalt, who works security for the regional airline, noticed the plane was veering off course and saw that the pilot was in distress.
"She realized he was disoriented and made a determination to land the plane,'' Haynes said.
Oswalt, an aspiring pilot with just 50 hours of training flights under her belt, managed to land the plane on its belly without the use of any landing gear. There were three businessmen on the plane and no one was injured.
The pilot was taken to a local hospital where he was treated and later released.
The pilot was tested for alcohol and drugs but the results won't be known for a week, Haynes said. She also said officials are looking into whether he may have had a medical condition.
"We are now investigating what happened to that pilot. We just don't know what happened,'' she said.
The pilot, who has a clean flying record, has been suspended pending the outcome of an internal probe. The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board also are investigating the incident.
"He will not fly again until we find out what happened to him,'' Haynes said. "We will not rest until we find out what happened.''
Oswalt takes flying lessons in Chatham and has done several solo landings at the Provincetown airport. The facility was closed at the time of the incident but the airstrip was lit.
"They were all shaken up,'' Haynes said of the passengers. "But they all walked off the plane and were O.K. We're very grateful to Melanie.''
Haynes said Oswalt was "confident'' in her flying skills and is now more eager than ever to earn her pilot's license. Cape Air pilots must log 1,500 hours before they can fly commercially.
"She's a pilot-in-training but I'd say she's well on her way now,'' Haynes said.
____________________________________________
Cape Air is a scheduled operator, see:
<a href="http://www.flycapeair.com/" target="_blank">http://www.flycapeair.com/</a>
Flight student landed plane in emergency on Cape Cod
by Dave Wedge . .Sunday, February 10, 2002
As investigators try to determine why a pilot nearly passed out at the controls of a Cape Cod-bound small plane, the young woman who took over and miraculously landed the aircraft - without landing gear - is being hailed as a heroine.
"We are truly amazed at her efforts,'' Cape Air spokeswoman Michelle Haynes said of Melanie Oswalt. "She climbed into the seat and took the controls and landed that plane. It was an extraordinary effort.''
The high-flying drama unfolded around 8:15 p.m. Friday when a Cessna 402 en route from Martha's Vineyard to Hyannis made an emergency landing in a closed Provincetown airport. The pilot of the plane, whose name was not released, "became disoriented'' at the helm and nearly passed out. The pilot was described by Haynes as a man in his 50s with years of flying experience.
Oswalt, who works security for the regional airline, noticed the plane was veering off course and saw that the pilot was in distress.
"She realized he was disoriented and made a determination to land the plane,'' Haynes said.
Oswalt, an aspiring pilot with just 50 hours of training flights under her belt, managed to land the plane on its belly without the use of any landing gear. There were three businessmen on the plane and no one was injured.
The pilot was taken to a local hospital where he was treated and later released.
The pilot was tested for alcohol and drugs but the results won't be known for a week, Haynes said. She also said officials are looking into whether he may have had a medical condition.
"We are now investigating what happened to that pilot. We just don't know what happened,'' she said.
The pilot, who has a clean flying record, has been suspended pending the outcome of an internal probe. The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board also are investigating the incident.
"He will not fly again until we find out what happened to him,'' Haynes said. "We will not rest until we find out what happened.''
Oswalt takes flying lessons in Chatham and has done several solo landings at the Provincetown airport. The facility was closed at the time of the incident but the airstrip was lit.
"They were all shaken up,'' Haynes said of the passengers. "But they all walked off the plane and were O.K. We're very grateful to Melanie.''
Haynes said Oswalt was "confident'' in her flying skills and is now more eager than ever to earn her pilot's license. Cape Air pilots must log 1,500 hours before they can fly commercially.
"She's a pilot-in-training but I'd say she's well on her way now,'' Haynes said.
____________________________________________
Cape Air is a scheduled operator, see:
<a href="http://www.flycapeair.com/" target="_blank">http://www.flycapeair.com/</a>
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No doubt about it: Job well done!
And I hate to be so cynical but wouldn't it be a shame if the FAA tried to violate her for not following proper procedures (i.e. lowering the landing gear)?
The heroine with a tarnished record who becomes a Machiavellian type bureaucrat and eventually reforms a government agency.
Now I'd pay to see that movie! <img src="tongue.gif" border="0">
And I hate to be so cynical but wouldn't it be a shame if the FAA tried to violate her for not following proper procedures (i.e. lowering the landing gear)?
The heroine with a tarnished record who becomes a Machiavellian type bureaucrat and eventually reforms a government agency.
Now I'd pay to see that movie! <img src="tongue.gif" border="0">
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Well done Miss Oswalt!!!!! Even more of a courageous feat as according to BBC R4, she made the emergency landing after dark. Great to have a happy ending given such precarious circumstances. <img src="smile.gif" border="0">
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Ooooh, I dunno? I reckon with some 50 hours of "training flights" under her belt, the least she could have done was lower the gear and put the Cessna 402 down in one piece!
Let's face it, she was not faced with assymetric flight or any other failure. Good job, lass, but do try to do better next time.
Let's face it, she was not faced with assymetric flight or any other failure. Good job, lass, but do try to do better next time.
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I agree if she has 50hours under her belt then surely she could have put the gear down....wasn't she talking to the tower and they could have said your gear's not down....after 50hrs i had my PPL and knew what a gear hangle looked like..... .But good job anyways...
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Hey guys and gals, give the lady a break! In the U.S. the first 50 hours do not necessarily include flight in a retractable gear aircraft.
Why the "Monday Morning Quarterbacking" here? Call her a heroine and leave it at that.
You do not have the facts. She may have been sitting three seat rows behind the pilots seat, and moved forward just prior to landing and saved the day!
[ 10 February 2002: Message edited by: Check 6 ]</p>
Why the "Monday Morning Quarterbacking" here? Call her a heroine and leave it at that.
You do not have the facts. She may have been sitting three seat rows behind the pilots seat, and moved forward just prior to landing and saved the day!
[ 10 February 2002: Message edited by: Check 6 ]</p>
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Also I need to congratulate the un-rated twin pilot for certainly a stressfull job well done...guess what she will put in her applications later on when asked about accident history....
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Yeah nice one airwaves (and interested), at night how exactly would the tower have seen that the gear wasn't down even if they had been there?? And how would she have known which was the PTT button (in the dark) on the yoke of a 402 which presumably also has an autopilot disconnect button and trim switch (don't quote me on that!), things I'm willing to bet her 152 (or whatever she had flown) didn't. Couldn't we just forgive her for the insurance claim this once and congratulate her for saving their lives?
An instructor once told me to get the gear travelling as soon as you get a positive climb because a gear up landing never killed anyone - discuss
[ 10 February 2002: Message edited by: TDK ]</p>
An instructor once told me to get the gear travelling as soon as you get a positive climb because a gear up landing never killed anyone - discuss
[ 10 February 2002: Message edited by: TDK ]</p>
Luckily it was not a high-wing trying to ditch in the water. They claim that those types need something underneath to absorb the impact.
Very well done Miss O.!
Those more complex engines and much higher landing speeds would have been quite a handful by themselves, for most of us with so little training in fixed-gear, fixed-pitch prop Cessnas, Pipers etc.
Very well done Miss O.!
Those more complex engines and much higher landing speeds would have been quite a handful by themselves, for most of us with so little training in fixed-gear, fixed-pitch prop Cessnas, Pipers etc.
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How many of us PPL's and wannabe PPL's have not daydreamed of being in such a situation? I'm sure we all think we would perform well if we were lucky(???) enough to have out chance of 5 minutes of fame - but I for one know I may well forget some of the training. This is a serious pressure situation! Well done Mel!
When you get you're license, ask Cape Air for sponsorship for a CPL and a job. You never know - gotta be worth a try!
When you get you're license, ask Cape Air for sponsorship for a CPL and a job. You never know - gotta be worth a try!
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At that stage of training. I probably would have put the gear down, landed much too fast and killed everyone.. .My guess in all the emotional turmoil, she simply forgot. Perhaps fortunately.. .How lucky they all were that she was on board.
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For the doubting Thomas who feels this fine lady "should.... have put the gear down with 50 hours of knowledge", imagine you were in an aft seat in the space shuttle and had to suddenly jump in and handle a similar emergency.
Assuming you're a commercial pilot, that's about the same leap you're expecting this lady to make.
If all aboard walked away (and it seems they did) they each owe their lives to her performance!
There's always one, isn't there?
Assuming you're a commercial pilot, that's about the same leap you're expecting this lady to make.
If all aboard walked away (and it seems they did) they each owe their lives to her performance!
There's always one, isn't there?
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Hey, Dallas, lighten up dude. No-one said what you've placed in quotes above. One of these: is a big cheesy smile, three is positively light-hearted.
In any case, a pilot with 50 hours of "training flights" under the belt has a heap more than 50 hours of "knowledge". And, for your personal enlightenment, I had CSU props, multi, and retractable under my belt by the time I had 50 hours. So did many of my friends and acquaintances.
What's the big deal here? The lady did a good job, for sure, but she did not a lot more than I would have expected her to in the circmstances. As for making comparisons with the giant leap to a Space Shuttle, you must, of course, be joking. Or trying to wind us up with one of these: on yer kisser, eh? <img src="wink.gif" border="0">
is a big cheesy smile, three is positively light-hearted.In any case, a pilot with 50 hours of "training flights" under the belt has a heap more than 50 hours of "knowledge". And, for your personal enlightenment, I had CSU props, multi, and retractable under my belt by the time I had 50 hours. So did many of my friends and acquaintances.
What's the big deal here? The lady did a good job, for sure, but she did not a lot more than I would have expected her to in the circmstances. As for making comparisons with the giant leap to a Space Shuttle, you must, of course, be joking. Or trying to wind us up with one of these:
on yer kisser, eh? <img src="wink.gif" border="0">
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Another article from the Boston Globe:
Pilot ill, passenger lands plane
. .By Peter Demarco, Globe Correspondent, 2/10/2002
The pilot had passed out, the radio was nothing but static, and the Provincetown runway, if Melanie Oswalt could find it in the darkness, was only 3,500 feet long.
Roger Carchrie-Feltus of Hyannis and two other passengers aboard Cape Air Flight 55 from Martha's Vineyard to Hyannis on Friday night gripped their seats, unable to help.
Somehow, Oswalt, a 24-year-old security trainer for the airline, who had hitched a ride home from work, remained calm as she leaped into the copilot's seat and took the controls.
She had taken only 50 hours of flying lessons and did not have her pilot's license, and the 10-seat Cessna 402 was more complicated than anything she had flown.
Carchrie-Feltus, 53, was unaware of Oswalt's minimal flight training. He called his wife on his cellphone just moments before it went dead. ''We're going to end up in the Atlantic Ocean or a tree somewhere,'' he said.
The flight, which left Martha's Vineyard at 7:10 p.m., normally takes about 15 minutes, but the plane had been in the air for almost a half hour when Oswalt took command as the unidentified pilot became incapacitated. She struggled with the pilot for control of the plane until the other passengers grabbed him and he passed out.
She had never landed a plane with retractable landing gear and the plane's wheels were in the up position. But she was undaunted.
''She was talking with [the airline] on her cellphone,'' said Richard Bunker, a plane crash investigator for the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission. ''At one point, somebody asked if she felt comfortable she could land the airplane. She said yes, she could. Then they lost contact.''
The plane had gone off course and descended to just 300 feet altitude near Chatham Light when Oswalt came to the rescue, Carchrie-Feltus said. She brought the plane up to about 1,000 feet, then headed to Provincetown's unmanned airport, where she had received some flight training in the past.
Approaching Provincetown, she leveled the wings and killed the throttle, as she was trained to do, putting the plane down on its belly for a bumpy - but safe - landing.
''We landed with a big thump,'' said Carchrie-Feltus, ''and came to a screeching halt really quickly.'' The passengers opened an emergency hatch and ran from the plane.
By 8 p.m. or so, it was all over. The pilot was on his way to Cape Cod Hospital for treatment of a still undisclosed ailment, and the passengers Oswalt delivered to safety were calling her a hero.
''I really felt we had a higher power on our side,'' said Carchrie-Feltus, who took flowers to Oswalt's home yesterday as he delivered his thanks. ''Melanie had planned to go to Nantucket that night and 15 minutes before the flight, she decided to go to Hyannis.''
Others also offered praise for Oswalt's deeds.
''She basically saved five lives,'' said Bunker. ''This has happened before, but frankly, in the almost 18 years I've been doing this, this is the first time I've had a passenger land a plane.''
Bunker said the plan had minimal damage, considering the circumstances.
''She just took over,'' said Michelle Haynes, spokeswoman for Cape Air. ''It was like something out of one of those airplane movies. You always think, `What if I had to take over the controls?' She did.''
Haynes said Oswalt, of West Yarmouth, did not want to make a big deal out of her actions and preferred not to speak with reporters. Attempts by the Globe to reach her were unsuccessful.
Joe Borneo, a Bridgewater State College student who was in the Alpha Eta Rho aviation fraternity there with Oswalt, doubted he could have landed the plane even though he has logged 60 hours of air time.
''The plane she landed versus the planes we train in - it's like driving a Ford Probe all your life and going to a Mack truck,'' he said.
As a reward, Haynes said, Oswalt will be given free lessons by Cape Air, with the hope that she'll become a licensed pilot one day. The passengers on board will also be offered free flights, she said.
The incident is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration.
Pilot ill, passenger lands plane
. .By Peter Demarco, Globe Correspondent, 2/10/2002
The pilot had passed out, the radio was nothing but static, and the Provincetown runway, if Melanie Oswalt could find it in the darkness, was only 3,500 feet long.
Roger Carchrie-Feltus of Hyannis and two other passengers aboard Cape Air Flight 55 from Martha's Vineyard to Hyannis on Friday night gripped their seats, unable to help.
Somehow, Oswalt, a 24-year-old security trainer for the airline, who had hitched a ride home from work, remained calm as she leaped into the copilot's seat and took the controls.
She had taken only 50 hours of flying lessons and did not have her pilot's license, and the 10-seat Cessna 402 was more complicated than anything she had flown.
Carchrie-Feltus, 53, was unaware of Oswalt's minimal flight training. He called his wife on his cellphone just moments before it went dead. ''We're going to end up in the Atlantic Ocean or a tree somewhere,'' he said.
The flight, which left Martha's Vineyard at 7:10 p.m., normally takes about 15 minutes, but the plane had been in the air for almost a half hour when Oswalt took command as the unidentified pilot became incapacitated. She struggled with the pilot for control of the plane until the other passengers grabbed him and he passed out.
She had never landed a plane with retractable landing gear and the plane's wheels were in the up position. But she was undaunted.
''She was talking with [the airline] on her cellphone,'' said Richard Bunker, a plane crash investigator for the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission. ''At one point, somebody asked if she felt comfortable she could land the airplane. She said yes, she could. Then they lost contact.''
The plane had gone off course and descended to just 300 feet altitude near Chatham Light when Oswalt came to the rescue, Carchrie-Feltus said. She brought the plane up to about 1,000 feet, then headed to Provincetown's unmanned airport, where she had received some flight training in the past.
Approaching Provincetown, she leveled the wings and killed the throttle, as she was trained to do, putting the plane down on its belly for a bumpy - but safe - landing.
''We landed with a big thump,'' said Carchrie-Feltus, ''and came to a screeching halt really quickly.'' The passengers opened an emergency hatch and ran from the plane.
By 8 p.m. or so, it was all over. The pilot was on his way to Cape Cod Hospital for treatment of a still undisclosed ailment, and the passengers Oswalt delivered to safety were calling her a hero.
''I really felt we had a higher power on our side,'' said Carchrie-Feltus, who took flowers to Oswalt's home yesterday as he delivered his thanks. ''Melanie had planned to go to Nantucket that night and 15 minutes before the flight, she decided to go to Hyannis.''
Others also offered praise for Oswalt's deeds.
''She basically saved five lives,'' said Bunker. ''This has happened before, but frankly, in the almost 18 years I've been doing this, this is the first time I've had a passenger land a plane.''
Bunker said the plan had minimal damage, considering the circumstances.
''She just took over,'' said Michelle Haynes, spokeswoman for Cape Air. ''It was like something out of one of those airplane movies. You always think, `What if I had to take over the controls?' She did.''
Haynes said Oswalt, of West Yarmouth, did not want to make a big deal out of her actions and preferred not to speak with reporters. Attempts by the Globe to reach her were unsuccessful.
Joe Borneo, a Bridgewater State College student who was in the Alpha Eta Rho aviation fraternity there with Oswalt, doubted he could have landed the plane even though he has logged 60 hours of air time.
''The plane she landed versus the planes we train in - it's like driving a Ford Probe all your life and going to a Mack truck,'' he said.
As a reward, Haynes said, Oswalt will be given free lessons by Cape Air, with the hope that she'll become a licensed pilot one day. The passengers on board will also be offered free flights, she said.
The incident is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration.
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Cape Air has a reputation for hiring pilots who are "well-seasoned." Evidently this one was a little too far gone.
A young, cheap f/o could have been logging flight time in that right seat - and could have made this incident a little less spectacular!
A young, cheap f/o could have been logging flight time in that right seat - and could have made this incident a little less spectacular!