Passenger lands Cessna Caravan in West Palm Beach after pilot incapacitation
 

Happened today 12:30pm local time according to this report/video:

https://www.airlineratings.com/news/..._e5DPhhuF0xnLk

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....fffe3a31fc.png

Hmm, the passenger must have had some piloting experience only just not on a Caravan. Many ATCOs have PPLs but I think few, if any, have experience on the Caravan either. I think there's more to this story.

He flew like some nice DME arc first, turned north and then did some left 270 plus a soft landing and taxi off the active. Well done but maybe it was more like a passenger pilot not used to Caravans? Or maybe "the nun" and that old vietnam war pilot that never wanted to fly again did it?

Agreed. That descent and approach track looks suspiciously well executed for someone who has "no idea" how to fly the plane. I do have some idea, but I'm sure I would have spent quite some time while being vectored about to familiarize myself with cockpit layout and controls before making an attempt at an approach. The first part of the track after the incident seems to be a fairly precisely flown DME arc, and that touchdown appeared far better than most first solos.

Anyway, good job!
And i hope the real pilot recovers well.

From the Tower log it sounds like the passenger has some piloting experience.

Whatever the situation the guy done really well. Why does no one believe though that he had no flying experience? Feel bitter because it's not really that hard to do? 🤭😁😆

Connect the dots. They just don't add up.

Is the ATC audio available anywhere ?

Not hard if you know how.
For a pax with no flying experience and no ground training it can be hard.
If indeed this person had no aviation background or training, he or she did great.:ok:

I just read the same story here: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/new...IVC?li=AAJsPCA

I'm especially intrigued at this particular sentence: :ooh:

nivsy, I'm SLF. I have handled aircraft such as a PA-28 and a Cessna 150. I have made many cockpit flights and landings on airliners. I have of course "qualified" (tongue-in-cheek) on MFS. As such I might (with lots of luck) just about manage to land, sorry, bounce a light aircraft on a sufficiently long and wide runway (as FLL). A Caravan is, I imagine, already a tad more complicated. The almost flawless execution of this continued flight, turns, descent, approach and landing makes it difficult for me to believe that the PF had no idea about flying an airplane. It is more likely that he was not familiar with the type but not that he had never been at the controls of an aeroplane (airplane) before.

These pesky commas have a mind of their own ...

Flying is all energy management - most students mess this bit up and will fly an approach with too much airspeed. They overshoot or try and force the aircraft down onto the runway when it still has sufficient airspeed to remain airborne.

This is why I am suspicious of this video. For someone with apparently no experience, this looks like a stable approach flown at the correct speeds. If it was a C152 maybe, but a Caravan, different story,

Let's put it this way: Somebody took control and saved the day and hopefully the pilot.

I read that as 91,000ft :)

I'm also SLF with aviator friends. Way back in college I flunked a student medical because as a so called Flight Surgeon found an anomaly in how my eyes tracked with each other. Perhaps he misunderstood that I did NOT want to be a commercial or military pilot. I never had the money to hire s specialist to dispute his findings and I have a "I'm sure you'll understand" letter from an FAA medical type in Oklahoma City. I'm actually in the computer as an "Airman" with no licenses.

I have friends that have PPLs. I love the 172, I have mixed feelings about the Cherokee, and have a lot of time in the right seat of a Tomahawk that probably should be adjusted by some sort of giant airframe warping tool.

I had a first ride at 15 with a CFI as a birthday present. I had read every book in the local library system on flight. My CFI for the day also arranged a tour of the local Tracon and I ended up with an hour and a half of mentoring on primary and secondary radar by an FAA senior engineer.

I had the sectional two weeks before the flight. Scouting had taught me maps are very useful and I had the local area pretty much memorized by the time of the first ride.

I was very short at the time and had a choice of setting on phone books and seeing out or reaching the pedals. On a windless sunny I had no problems staying on glideslope because it was easier to see the steam gages then to see out. CfI took the controls back at around 250 feet and finished landing. I remember the PAPI being damn cool and useful.

Next flight was many years later on the day I sat the national teachers exam. The University flight school was selling rides that day and I booked a slot. I told them I may be late because the exam was three ten hour days; The student pilots held a sunset slot for me,. They bumped a VIP to the rear bench.. Their excuse was something about teacher appreciation day, and that anybody who would volunteer for a year in a school to get his license was nuts to begin with.

Left hand visual approach to 100 feet or so. With barely a word from the CFI. From ten miles out.

Having an Amatuer Radio License means Aviation Comms protocols are easy. RC planes lead to a pretty good understanding of flight dynamics.

Since then I've made friends with an engineer with a Tomahawk. Every time we go cross country his SLF get a drill starting with: "I just had a heart attack, what are you going to do"?"

Every PPl I've ever had a ride with has given a little brief and demo to whomever was in the other seat.. it is just common sense.

. I now work in a stressful, high tech environment. On a yearly 100$ hamburg run with my friend, I set there with a sectional on my lap, a stopwatch, a notebook with pre-planned alternates and frequencies, He's flying on a GPS with a two line display, and I'm following on the VORs.

I spent sseveral years as a field service engineer riding in the back, and you can see by my username that once helped design a very nice AATD level sim in a trailer with really good visuals.

I have no delusions of some fantasy landing in an airliner, Hollywood style. The idea of having to program an FMS and Autoland with zero training seems like a great way to die. I have the utmost respect for ATPs who can hand fly "Big Iron"

Having built a sim, do I even remotely belive X-Plane or MSFs is going to teach you everything you need to know to land VFR on clear day.. Um, no


Could some one with serious land or marine navigation skills get to the airport with radar help.. Probably if not certainly. A surveyor, or civil engineer, could easily get to a field.

If the unthinkable happens, and assuming I could get my friends body off the yoke, could I get the bird lined up yes.
Can I get it down and walk away? One in one hundred.. if its IFR, well...at least I have.a will made out. Provided I'm riding in a docile Cessna. It will be a good try at best in anything else.

For the obvious legal reasons no one has ever let me try to land.

Do I believe a mature technology oriented person with experience in other vehicles could do this, yeah, maybe, but the crash would be interesting if you did not have some outside help.

Just the perspective of an SLF with skills in other related areas.

Steve

I think this is the audio

Garmin Autoland ?
 

Looking at the Garmin website I do not see the 208 listed as approved for this.
It does look the plane flew an approach.
If it was Garmin autoland at work - that is a marketing coup.

Well done to both ATC and the passenger.

Don’t know if we need to thank Mission Control for handling the re-entry from 91,000.

Only downside is now everyone will know how easy it is! Our reputations as steely eyed aviators may suffer. (JOKE)