Posted 1/27/2007 01:31:00 PM by Douglas

Last week I thought this story was a bit odd, but not quite blog-worthy. Pilot dies, plane landed by copilot. No big whoop, right? Then it gets weird.

Addison said the steward asked if anyone on board was a doctor. He didn't think much of that.

Then he says he saw two people pull the unconscious pilot from the cockpit and perform CPR on him.

"I was trying to calm myself, tell myself that I'd be alright. Then I got anxious. I started thinking about my wife and my child. Even more, I was thinking about the pilot and his family," Addison said.

Addison then heard another announcement. This time the flight steward was asking if anyone knew how to fly a plane.

It turned out, the man seated next to Addison was a pilot.

"So I leaned over and I said, 'can you handle this?' He said, 'I have a small plane. I'm going to go up there.'"

That man helped the co-pilot make an emergency landing. Addison said it was a hard landing, but it was a safe one.

The pilot died right in front of Addison. He said he died three minutes before the landing.

Addison also said applause from the 210 passengers rang out for the co-pilot and the passenger who stepped up and helped out.

Huh? Why would the copilot need "help" from a passenger with 50 hours of stick time in a Piper cub? Isn't this exactly the reason the copilot exists in the first place? So they can land the plane if the pilot, oh, ida know, dies?!?

Turns out, he died of natural causes. I would have guessed he had the fish for dinner.

Labels: Airplane