Passenger Lands King Air after Pilot Dies

[LJ45]

So what is the story on the pilot that died? how old was he what was the cause of death it seems really Hush Hush usually the media reports everything about pilots like this.

Some of my friends know him and talked to him just a couple of days before he died. He had just got his medical back after a stint being put in. They all said he was a great guy and long time pilot in Monroe, LA.

RIP

 

[popgoesbubble]

Well hopefully he died peacefully and doing what he loved. I'm afraid though that this is just gonna be more ammo to enforce Age 65 on part 135 operators as they the FAA would like nothing else but put more rules in place for Business aviation.

RIP

 

[TFlite]

What if...

Good point. The film crew rescheduled for this afternoon. I'll point that out to them.

-- Tell the "low time" pilot to bring his family and a
-- friend in the sim with him. Have his friend ride in
-- the left seat for the takeoff. During the initial
-- climb, shoot the friend in the head and then tell
-- the "low time" pilot that if he doesn't land the sim
-- safely that his family will die too.

-- I think that's a more similar scenario, so let us
-- know how he does.

 

[Nack55]

I think everyone did a nice job. You can only feed someone so much information before they become overloaded. Giving him power settings, autopilot instructions, headings, altitude inst. etc. would probably be too much, besides the fact that he just saw his pilot (possilby friend?) die in the plane. Bottom line is he got the plane on the ground.

Makes a great case for two pilots in a high performance plane like that.

 

[LRvsH25B]

I think everyone did a nice job. You can only feed someone so much information before they become overloaded. Giving him power settings, autopilot instructions, headings, altitude inst. etc. would probably be too much, besides the fact that he just saw his pilot (possilby friend?) die in the plane. Bottom line is he got the plane on the ground.

Makes a great case for two pilots in a high performance plane like that.

I was not suggesting giving this guy all this info for him to write down then say, "Ok, you got all the details, see you on the ground". No, of course not.

How about, "Ok Bud, you're doing a great job. Select the A/P from the Aft pedestal, black switch on LH side labeled Autopilot. Next to it sleect HDG. The plane is now flying in heading mode and where you turn the heading bug is where the plane will go. Turn that knob to 090 and well get you slowed down and set up on a 25 mile final.

At this point his work load is essentially down to zero.

 

[Andy Neill]

I was not suggesting giving this guy all this info for him to write down then say, "Ok, you got all the details, see you on the ground". No, of course not.

How about, "Ok Bud, you're doing a great job. Select the A/P from the Aft pedestal, black switch on LH side labeled Autopilot. Next to it sleect HDG. The plane is now flying in heading mode and where you turn the heading bug is where the plane will go. Turn that knob to 090 and well get you slowed down and set up on a 25 mile final.

At this point his work load is essentially down to zero.

The controller suggested bugging the heading and the pilot responded he didn't know how to.

 

[400A]

Turning on some autopilot's with the wrong modes selected, or altitude modes not preset properly in some of the King Air models could have easily induced more trouble or loss of control than leaving it off. I used to do owner operator transitions in the 200 with guys who had been to initial, and they could still scare the crap out of you with the autopilot.

As stable as a King Air 200 is, I think they made the right call. Hard to argue with the results.