Continental 61 Captain dies en route
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Saying he died due to age, 61, is like someone would say: AF 447 crashed because pilots were stupid or Scarebus is a crappy plane. It shows luck of common sense and respect for a fellow human and crew member, also a lot of ME...ME....ME and only ME. After ME the hell can broke loose.
Someone gave the 2007 Continental example. The pilot was 58. Should that be taken in consideration? Or the co-pilot who died on me at only 32. Why not consider 30 years old the limit? As long as you can hold a medical you should be good to go. Once someone is born, sooner or later will die. How and when will always be an enigma. The best we can do is to try to take care of ourself and cheat the death for a longer period of time. That's another reason why there are 2 pilots on the plane.
Someone gave the 2007 Continental example. The pilot was 58. Should that be taken in consideration? Or the co-pilot who died on me at only 32. Why not consider 30 years old the limit? As long as you can hold a medical you should be good to go. Once someone is born, sooner or later will die. How and when will always be an enigma. The best we can do is to try to take care of ourself and cheat the death for a longer period of time. That's another reason why there are 2 pilots on the plane.
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People Die
Last time I checked pilots are not super human! We suffer all the problems every one else does.
If memory serves other pilots have died on duty and they were under 60.
Can't wait to see how the media will play this one. Maybe we can finally put swine flu to rest
If memory serves other pilots have died on duty and they were under 60.
Can't wait to see how the media will play this one. Maybe we can finally put swine flu to rest
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Passengers were not told apparently, and only knew something was amiss when emergency vehicles approached the plane after it landed. There had been an announcement on whether there were any doctors on-board, and several passengers apparently responded.
Assuming these were doctors, and they pronounced him deceased, this would explain why no earlier diversion to Bangor or Boston.
Assuming these were doctors, and they pronounced him deceased, this would explain why no earlier diversion to Bangor or Boston.
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'Natural Causes' had to chuckle. Not a bad way to go though although still relatively young. We have a retirement age of 63 and have had a number of medical boarding's amongst the older folk in the 58 to 63 year old range in recent times. I believe that the younger you can afford to go, go.
Night shift/differing time zones and working in a pressurized aluminum tube at altitude must affect your longevity. Not to mention the stress…
Night shift/differing time zones and working in a pressurized aluminum tube at altitude must affect your longevity. Not to mention the stress…
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Excerpted from the on-line New York Times
About halfway through the flight, a call came over the announcement system asking if any doctors were on board, passengers said.....
....five people — four men and one woman — went up to the front of the plane after the call for a doctor was made. Four of them later returned.
The passengers were not told of the emergency. “We asked the stewardesses and they said ’someone fell ill',....
A Belgian cardiologist, Dr. Julien Struyven, 72, checked the pilot’s vital signs and declared him dead. Dr. Struyven told reporters that he tried to use a defibrillator on the plane, but was not able to revive the pilot. Dr. Struyven said a heart attack was the likely cause of death.
....
A medical doctor on board the flight pronounced the pilot dead, according to Les Dorr Jr., a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. The pilot was removed from the cockpit to the crew rest area, he said.
Ms. King said that two other pilots — a reserve officer and a first officer — assumed the controls. “The crew on this flight included an additional relief pilot, who took the place of the deceased pilot,” she said.
....five people — four men and one woman — went up to the front of the plane after the call for a doctor was made. Four of them later returned.
The passengers were not told of the emergency. “We asked the stewardesses and they said ’someone fell ill',....
A Belgian cardiologist, Dr. Julien Struyven, 72, checked the pilot’s vital signs and declared him dead. Dr. Struyven told reporters that he tried to use a defibrillator on the plane, but was not able to revive the pilot. Dr. Struyven said a heart attack was the likely cause of death.
....
A medical doctor on board the flight pronounced the pilot dead, according to Les Dorr Jr., a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. The pilot was removed from the cockpit to the crew rest area, he said.
Ms. King said that two other pilots — a reserve officer and a first officer — assumed the controls. “The crew on this flight included an additional relief pilot, who took the place of the deceased pilot,” she said.
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Also, I don't know how in other places a crew is viewed or trained but here in States, for the majority of companies, there is no difference in training, qualifications between PIC and SIC. The only difference is the seniority with the company. That doesn't mean the FO has a lack of training or he is not ready to be a Captain. He is as well trained and prepaid as any other captain except the company has no empty Captain spot available. A good way for any company to save money. As far I am concerned the Continental flight had 2 other Captains available. Business as usual. Good job.
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Very good point Firefly boy. Media will probably bring up the new "65 rule". Well, here's my very modest contribution to the topic, based on 15 years of research on the subject in my previous career. Sudden death affects 350.000 to 400.000 americans every year; known etiologies are cardiac problems, as well as many others. Here is the bottom line: there is no statistically significant difference between the following age groups: 45-55 and 55-65. So the media are going to tell us that pilots should retire at 45 
Of course, we have seen recently a lot of self-proclamed media experts after AF 447 crash and unfortunately it is likely that we are going to see the same idiots feeding the general public with stupid and medically unfounded statements related to the tragic loss of this CAL Captain.
Of course, we have seen recently a lot of self-proclamed media experts after AF 447 crash and unfortunately it is likely that we are going to see the same idiots feeding the general public with stupid and medically unfounded statements related to the tragic loss of this CAL Captain.
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Age 65
It's a whole load of B.S. that age 65 came about due to any thing other than greed. It's amazing that this law just "popped" up over a weekend. It's the greed of the companies and the greed of those old fart captains sitting in my seat. I think this just goes to show that age 65 was too much -- law should be repealed and age 60 should return as the norm.
The average age of the F/Os at my company are: 47-48. Average age of our 777 CAs: 58-59. We haven't hired in years and still have 1985 guys walking the streets.
There's a little bit of tongue-n-cheek about the seat deal.
Those F/Os did a great job. They were required to declare an emergency, but that didn't require them to land short. BTW, I don't think the wx in EWR required an auto land so hand fly that puppy.
The average age of the F/Os at my company are: 47-48. Average age of our 777 CAs: 58-59. We haven't hired in years and still have 1985 guys walking the streets.
There's a little bit of tongue-n-cheek about the seat deal.
Those F/Os did a great job. They were required to declare an emergency, but that didn't require them to land short. BTW, I don't think the wx in EWR required an auto land so hand fly that puppy.
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I guess this will all be food for thought with the change last year in the mandatory retirement age increase from 60 to 65.
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When AA installed defibrilators on their aircraft, it was at least partly in response to the onboard death of a mid 30's male passenger who had completed a triathlon, a few days before his flight.
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Just a thought! yes despite all the training you get etc.. Good on the F/Os for carrying on safely and getting the thing down knowing the chap they had spent the last day or so with, and sat next to for the past several hours had just died. Bound to be distracting!!
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It's a whole load of B.S. that age 65 came about due to any thing other than greed. It's amazing that this law just "popped" up over a weekend. It's the greed of the companies and the greed of those old fart captains sitting in my seat. I think this just goes to show that age 65 was too much -- law should be repealed and age 60 should return as the norm.
Looks like all the whiners did nothing but complain in this case...
If there was any real opposition you would think they would have gotten at least one vote against. But they didn't.
A very sad event, but I guess if you juggle the numbers there will always be a certain proportion of premature demises, so its not that exceptional.
I surmise that the SOP for declaring an emergency would be due to expecting a single pilot landing, declaring would lessen the workload a little, in this case they had two drivers which would have helped, no-doubt the crew were somewhat distracted by events.
I surmise that the SOP for declaring an emergency would be due to expecting a single pilot landing, declaring would lessen the workload a little, in this case they had two drivers which would have helped, no-doubt the crew were somewhat distracted by events.
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It's a whole load of B.S. that age 65 came about due to any thing other than greed. It's amazing that this law just "popped" up over a weekend. It's the greed of the companies and the greed of those old fart captains sitting in my seat. I think this just goes to show that age 65 was too much -- law should be repealed and age 60 should return as the norm.
I hope you are still an Aviator at 60+
JSP
Actually, I would expect you would declare an emergency even if the person wasn't crew. You want to get any possible medical assistance on arrival in case any vital signs can be revived. (I don't know the full facts... I guess if it was several hours later, that may be an irrelevance)
