Flight attendant helps land plane at O'Hare
 

An unidentified San Francisco-based American Airlines flight attendant abandoned her beverage cart and put on a radio headset, replacing the ill first officer in the right seat of the 767 jumbo jet's flight deck to help the captain during the landing. The flight landed without incident, and passengers were never aware anything was different.

Flight attendant helps land plane at O'Hare - chicagotribune.com

The CC also happened to have a CPL...

Next...she'll want a pilot seniority number:rolleyes:

Funny how the Airline are quick to grab the credit for employing such resourceful staff, even they didn't give her a job as a FO!

Wouldn`t she need an ATPL for that? Does AA offer ab initio training?

:confused::confused::confused:

What's one of those???

jumbo jet--
 

any aircraft that has more than 6 seats that doesn't sound like a harley!

did you sit by the window during your commercial training? Ha!

The original definition of a "jumbo jet" was any of the widebody (twin-isle) jets built in the late 60s & 70s. i.e. DC-10, L1011, 767 & (of course) the 747.

As the biggest (well, until the A380), the 747 eventually appropriated sole use of the name.

No. I don't have an ATPL, yet. But I know what you mean I am just a pedant today.

Good on the FA, hope they find use for their CPL again sometime if that's what they want (obviously not in the same circumstances).

More to the point, I often think the brief introduction to radio operation etc. would be useful as part of the CC training. I know calling the ground is the last of your worries if the proverbial has hit the fan to the extent that nobody else has the ability to use the Radio but, fighting chance and all that.

Dorris Day would be proud of her!

clunckdriver
 

well done...few people know that Doris Day, in the film "Julie" , had to land a DC4 at KSFO.

Well if BA expect their pilots to start throwing sandwiches why shouldn't an FA land a plane?

"One pilot is fully capable of flying a Boeing 767. In fact, the sophisticated plane, equipped with an array of computers, can fly and land by itself."

Really? I'll have to tell my brother he'd best start looking for a new job then....

Do they read the stuff before they print it? Do editors still exist?

Well done to the c/crew.
Octane - what do you see as wrong in that quote for the masses?

octane

of course they read it...problem is that they're completely uninformed and are, as usual, making guesses based on the usual misconceptions that people have about flying.

well done to the two of them though! and as if by magic, a perfect example of the risks of this sort of thing:

Embraer reveals vision for single-pilot airliners

... because it's not an autonomous system? :rolleyes: The quote would imply that it is possible for the aircraft to be instructed to land with an empty cockpit. An auto-land capable autopilot only does 30% of the job. Someone still needs to program it, and put the wheels down, and put the flaps down, and control the speed, and ....

Checkboard: While you're absolutely correct in what you say, conceptually all of that could be done remotely, as with RPVs or, for that matter, with unmanned spacecraft. I'd prefer to know there was a warm, breathing and qualified body at the pointy end in case of a tango uniform situation, but the beancounters are probably keeping an eye on things . . .

Hmm! I see several sets of knickers reaching red-line temps here:)

a) Written for the masses
b) Certainly the 737 can 'fly and land itself'
c) Standard teaching (where I come from anyway) is for single-pilot ops to 'let the a/c land itself'
d) Nowhere did it actually say you don't need any pilots
e) "The quote would imply that it is possible for the aircraft to be instructed to land with an empty cockpit." - I think you made that bit up?
f) Any 'masses' on here think that way?

Cold compresses, nurse!

Flight attendant turned co-pilot: 'I don't feel like a hero'

June 16, 2010 6:54 AM | 7 Comments | UPDATED STORY

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/deluna1jpg.jpg Patti DeLuna hadn't piloted a plane in about 20 years until this week.
Back then, it was a small Cessna. On Monday, she quickly stepped up to a Boeing 767 airliner.
DeLuna, 61, an American Airlines flight attendant, helped her captain land the jumbo jet at O'Hare International Airport after the flight's first officer fell ill with stomach flu.
"I was the best available (back-up pilot) they had on the plane,'' DeLuna said Tuesday from her California home. "I spent a lot of time in the cockpit looking at the flight deck panel and asking questions. My first question to the captain was, 'Where are the brakes?' ''

Get the full story: Flight attendant turned co-pilot: 'I don't feel like a hero'.

I'm going to keep up my Flight Sim skills - you never know when they might be needed ;)

Will be even more important when flying single pilot Embraers!

I'd just call this an intelligent use of CRM (Cabin Resource Management). :D

Embrace this...recent incidents highlight inherent incompetencies in flight deck crew anyway. Maybe she was more current on recent technologies than the cockpit team anyhow.

Respect to her and her role in this incident. Having someone comfortable with nav and comms makes for a much less stressful approach and landing than without.

A job well done and a good example of CRM ( Cabin Resource Management).
:ok:

Only 61? One of their younger ones then!:E

I didn't know Karen Black was still alive.

Re Embraer going single pilot, I would suggest that they get their two pilot airplane(s) sorted first:hmm:

Mr BOAC - you asked, and I answered. :) No knicker twisting.

im·ply
Pronunciation: \im-ˈplī\
Function: transitive verb
To involve or indicate by inference, association, or necessary consequence rather than by direct statement.

Perhaps English isn't your first tongue?

Yes, I made it up. It's called "setting forth an argument". ;)

Interesting. Hmmm - somehow "deja vu" :ooh:

Wasn't there a similar occurrence a while ago, posted here?

Tried a search, but my english obviously isn't good enough.

Thought Out
 

I wonder if anyone has thought out the reason why AA did that. Seems obvious to me... if one pilot got sick, the other might follow rapidly, and the airplane will NOT land itself by any stretch. Good decision on AA's part.

:confused: :confused: :confused: AA did what?

Isn't that story a bit blown out of proportion? I mean, OK, it's a nice media story for the general public, but what exactly has she done in the cockpit? read the checklists, tune in radio and nav? I think that would be all. I'm glad she said she didn't feel like a hero.

"but what exactly has she done in the cockpit?"

We don't know, but as a current CPL, even if she only flies Piper and Cessna singles, she would be perfectly capable of setting the flaps and lowering the gear at the PF's command, handling all comm with approach and local controls, and being an extra set of eyes. Which in fact much of what the PNF does anyway.

There are airlines that give the CC training in helping out when a pilot is disabled plus CRM so that the pilots know how to make use of CC if that's the best available.

Yes, the beasts will fly just fine with just one pilot, but an extra pair of eyes and ears plus help with workload going into ORD improves the operation.

Sounds to me like the SOPs were followed:ok:

A well done to PF certainly. As already opined the FA's part was considerably less, and AA is making too much of it IMHO.

Now off to JB with the whole thing then !

At both airlines I worked for in the U.S. it was written into the manual as SOP that in the event of 1 pilot in a 2-pilot crew being incapacitated, time permitting, an F/A would be placed in the jump seat, don a headset, and serve as an extra set of eyes, ears, and read checklists as instructed. The F/A is also there to help immobilize/calm the incapacitated pilot (if he can't be removed from the seat, or wakes up incoherent) and administer whatever first aid can be rendered, allowing the other pilot to concentrate on flying the airplane.

After touch down her first comment was "now i'm a pilot can I bitch and moan like you" :\

Quote:

---

I'm aware that there may have been no immediate 'danger' but it was certainly an abnormal circumstance, and surely deserves some degree of recognition, or indeed, anything more adult than some of the above?

---

First of all don't call me Shirley.

Secondly this was a wise decision in the event that another situation had occured at the same time. The potential for multiple problems cascading all at once is the biggest risk. This was a wise decision.

should she be given a pilot job?no
 

No. There are tens of thousands of pilots who are more qualified than she is. 300 hours , 20 years ago isn't much as we all know.

I do think it would be quite nice of American Airlines to pay off her mortgage, or do something ''nice'' for her. Even offer her a free type rating on top of the mortgage thing.

Did the captain do right? Sure.

The big question is, why did the copilot get sick? Was he sick before the trip and was afraid to call in sick?

I know one bizare situation in which the female captain, just under 6 months pregnant, did one more flight...and ended up on the cabin floor with dozens of blankets and being rushed to a hospital on landing...baby related of course. She was about one day from the cutoff for pregnant pilots being grounded.

A deadheading captain came up to the cockpit...though it brings another interesting question...who was in command? Legally, I would think the FO was, the captain being incapacitated...but one could argue that the other captain took over...but I digress.

This is a non event and shouldn't have found its way into the national headlines.

She didn't have her hand on the wheel for landing, did she?

Great job - ...glad she was there and could help.

I suppose, if every flight attendant was licensed, we would only need one up front.

I bet the captain simply gave her a short briefing, told her to put on the headset and then said "touch nothing".

Having her upfront could have prevented a disaster if another unforseen event had occured at about the same time. (ie the swiss cheese analogy). If something else had happened she could have handled communications, navigation, read emergency checklists, etc.

It was a wonderful example of CRM but there's hardly any heroism involved. It's just a great example of a professional flight crew doing what needed to be done given the situation.

It's nice to see these examples surface in the media but is was probably pretty uneventful up front.