Buzz
Although flying is widely considered one of the safest modes of transport, occasional issues can arise, especially when they occur at great altitudes. Besides mechanical and technical failures, factors such as poor decision-making, medical emergencies, inexperience, and even unconsciousness can quickly turn a regular flight into a frightening ordeal.
What happens when passengers are unexpectedly called to take on the role of pilots while soaring through the sky? While it’s unlikely, there is always a chance of finding ourselves in such an extreme situation. If this were to happen, not only would our own lives be at risk, but also the safety of our loved ones and fellow passengers. This scenario became a reality for the people in this story, and here’s how they reacted.
10. Charles Law
When it came time for passenger Charles Law, 70, to land the plane, his age didn’t hold him back. Neither did the fact that he was legally blind.
In November 1986, Law, alongside his 80-year-old friend, Harry “Buck” Stiteler (the pilot), departed from Cable Airport in Upland, California, about 64 kilometers (40 miles) from Los Angeles. They were headed to Corona Municipal Airport, then on to Rialto Airport. After a break for lunch, they began their return flight to Upland.
Everything went smoothly until they neared Cable Airport, when Stiteler suddenly lost consciousness. Feeling his friend's hand, Law immediately realized something was wrong: his friend was cold and unresponsive. Law had piloted similar aircraft in the past, but that was before he had lost much of his vision. With 20/200 vision in his left eye and 20/400 in his right, he was considered legally blind, or as Sergeant John Cannon from the Upland police put it, “he could barely see in front of his face.”
What could an elderly, blind man possibly do in this situation? According to Cannon, what he did was “[land] that thing without crashing.” Somehow, Law managed to ‘feel’ his way to Cable Airport, a seemingly impossible task. But not only did he land the plane safely, he also deliberately guided it off the runway and onto the dirt, as Cannon reported.
All Law could make out as he approached the runway were “the airport thresholds (white markings),” but that was enough for him. “I just aimed for that,” he recalls. “We bounced a little hard and it was a little squirrely, and I guess I was a little crooked. But I thought it was a very good landing,” he said.
Both Law and his friend were rushed to the hospital, but only Law made it. Stiteler was declared dead soon after arrival. Law tried everything to save his friend, but despite his efforts, he couldn’t.
9. Victor Consunji
Victor Consunji was a businessman, not a pilot. However, in February 2000, he found himself acting as both for a brief moment in time.
While traveling to Manila, Philippines, the 59-year-old pilot of the Cessna, in which Consunji was a passenger, suddenly lost consciousness and passed away from a heart attack. With no prior flying experience, Consunji was forced to take control of the aircraft to avoid a deadly crash for himself and the other two passengers on board.
Consunji’s distress call explaining that the pilot had passed away and he was now in control of the Cessna, despite not knowing how to fly, caught the attention of a pilot from Asian Spirit, a local airline in the Philippines. The pilot guided Consunji through the process of operating the plane’s controls and interpreting the airspeed and altitude readings. He also cautioned Consunji to ensure the Cessna’s speed didn’t dip below 160 kilometers per hour (100 mph).
Consunji successfully brought the plane down “safely onto the water near a beach in the Philippines,” ensuring the survival of himself and the other passengers aboard. Fortunately, all of them only sustained “minor injuries.”
8. Rowan Atkinson
In March 2001, the ever-adorable and accident-prone Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) found himself in a situation where he had to learn to fly in the most unexpected way. While his chartered Cessna 202 was en route from the Ukundu airstrip to Nairobi’s Wilson Airport, the pilot suddenly passed out. Onboard with Atkinson were his wife, Sunetra, their two children, Ben (eight years old) and Lilly (six years old). With no choice, Atkinson had to act.
Despite having no prior flying experience, Atkinson took control of the aircraft while his wife and children worked to revive the pilot. Eventually, the unconscious pilot regained consciousness, took the reins again, and landed the plane safely at the airport. The clumsy “Mr. Bean” had come through and saved the day!
7. Gerry Garapich and Bob Powelson
In May 2005, Douglas R. Reichardt, 49, and his passengers, Gerry Garapich, 60, and Bob Powelson, were on a flight from North Las Vegas to San Diego. When Reichardt suffered a heart attack, his passengers had to step in and take control of the plane.
Near Boulder City, Nevada, Reichardt began feeling unwell, prompting them to turn back. He co-owned El Jefe’s Mexican Restaurant & Cantina in nearby Henderson, Nevada, and had been flying to California to scout a potential location for another restaurant. As he neared the North Las Vegas Airport, Reichardt suffered a heart attack and lost consciousness. Garapich took over the controls, while Powelson handled the flaps and landing gear. Garapich had piloted a glider 25 years earlier, but neither man had any flying experience.
As they neared the airport, the plane’s altitude was too high to land. They had to abort the landing and circle three times to “get a feel for the plane.” Eventually, they started their descent. Garapich recalls the landing being “hard.” The plane crashed several hundred feet short of the runway during their attempt to land, with parts of the aircraft’s landing gear and underbelly scattered across the airport’s infield.
Throughout the ordeal, Garapich’s primary concern was survival so he and Powelson could return to their families. His wish came true. Although both men were injured in the crash, they survived. Garapich suffered two cracked vertebrae, and Powelson needed 17 stitches above his eyes. All three were taken to Las Vegas’s University Medical Center, where Reichardt later passed away.
6. Doug White
In April 2009, 56-year-old pharmacist Doug White, his wife Terry, and their two daughters were flying back from his brother’s funeral aboard a chartered twin-turboprop King Air plane. Little did they know, they might soon be facing their own tragic fate.
Ten minutes into their flight from Louisiana to Orlando, the pilot suddenly lost consciousness. In a radio communication captured on audiotape, White informed air traffic controllers that he had seen the pilot’s eyes roll back in his head and suspected he had passed away. White was right: The pilot had indeed died at the controls. With his family’s lives now in his hands, White was instructed to take control of the aircraft. Flight instructor Lisa Grimm guided him to disengage the autopilot and assume command.
Following Grimm’s guidance, White, who had completed only three weeks of flight training and had flown only a Cessna, a smaller, simpler single-engine plane, requested Grimm to find him “the longest, widest runway [she could].” (Other reports suggest White already had a pilot’s license but had never flown a King Air before.) Regardless of his experience, there’s a significant difference between a Cessna and the larger aircraft he was now tasked with flying. As Steve Wallace, spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, noted, experts agree that “a turboprop multi-engine probably lands at a faster speed than he’s ever flown a single-engine plane before.”
During the tense ordeal, White’s teenage daughter Maggie confessed she “felt helpless.” She could only pray, and she also became so stressed she vomited. Nevertheless, White rose to the challenge. With assistance from Grimm and other air traffic controllers at Fort Myers International Airport, his plane was diverted there, and White successfully landed the aircraft, saving himself and his family.
Kari Sorenson, an experienced flight instructor and pilot with King Air expertise, mentored White in piloting the aircraft. She was astounded by how quickly he adapted. “Doug learned to fly that plane in 20 minutes,” Sorenson remarked. “I don’t think you could have made the plane more complex or the pilot less experienced and still had a successful landing.” Grimm, too, was impressed by his calm demeanor under pressure, dubbing him “the coolest cucumber.”
“When I touch down...if I ever touch down, do I just kill the throttle or what?” White asked. The controllers guided him step-by-step through disengaging the autopilot, turning the aircraft, and managing the controls. After a successful landing, White and his family were honored at a ceremony in Orlando, Florida, where they met the controllers and Sorenson, thanking them for their help. They were later informed they had only a five-percent chance of surviving the ordeal. Reflecting on the experience, White learned one thing: “If you’re gonna die, at least die trying not to.”
5. Unidentified Woman (Colorado)
In May 2011, a woman from Colorado faced an alarming situation. Her husband, the pilot, began to have trouble breathing and lost control of their aircraft, a “single-engine, four-seat Cirrus prop plane.”
The incident unfolded at a disastrous time. The last transmission heard from the plane indicated it was heading toward the Rocky Mountains. Air traffic controllers lost contact, and the plane was seen plummeting toward the San Juan peaks. Thirteen agonizing minutes passed.
After a tense period, radio contact was finally restored, and the woman explained to the controllers that she was trying to get her husband to engage the autopilot system. She also revealed that she had no idea how to operate the aircraft. Fortunately, help was close by in the form of a Great Lakes Airlines flight passing nearby. The pilot established communication with her and began providing instructions on how to fly the plane.
Sadly, she couldn’t regain control of the aircraft. She switched off the engine and readied the plane’s built-in parachute for deployment. Her husband had been unconscious for nearly 40 minutes. Just as she was about to pull the ripcord, he regained consciousness and took the controls, just in time. It was a lucky turn of events: “I am not a pilot. I could not have landed,” his wife confessed.
4. John Wildey
In October 2013, while flying a Cessna 172 from Sandtoft Airfield near Doncaster, East Yorkshire, England, the pilot of John Wildey’s aircraft suddenly collapsed in the cockpit and later passed away. At that time, they were 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the airfield. The pilot handed control of the airplane to Wildey, who struggled with his first three landing attempts, all of which failed.
On his fourth attempt, Wildey was finally able to land the aircraft. However, Stuart Sykes, a witness, described the landing as more than a little rough: “It came down with a bump, a bump, a bump, hit the front end down. I heard some crashing and it’s come to a halt.” There were also sparks coming from the propeller during the descent. Wildey called it a “controlled crash,” explaining that he couldn’t reach the brakes in time, causing him to veer off the runway toward a wall. Luckily, he managed to stop before hitting it.
Nevertheless, Ron Murray, a flight instructor from The Frank Morgan Flying School at the same airport, considered the landing “quite a good landing, actually,” especially since the passenger was effectively flying blind due to the lack of lights on the plane.
3. Balloonists
While there have been numerous instances of airplane passengers unexpectedly having to take control in midair, there is another remarkable case involving hot-air balloon passengers who had to step in when their pilot became incapacitated.
This incident occurred in September 1996, near a highway in Phoenix. After completing a sightseeing flight, the pilot attempted to land the hot-air balloon at 11:00 AM but crashed into a concrete wall. The impact threw him out of the balloon's basket. Following the crash, the balloon went out of control, leaving the passengers stranded high above the ground, forced to manage the situation on their own.
As the balloon “bounced across the desert,” the passengers did their best to steer it. Although they came dangerously close to both Interstate 17 and high-voltage power lines, and everyone aboard suffered injuries, doctors at a nearby hospital confirmed that all were “in good condition” without any life-threatening wounds.
However, it's unlikely that these passengers will ever look at hot-air balloons the same way again or ever climb into one in the near future.
2. Unidentified Spanish Woman
In 2015, a woman from Spain was flying with her husband, who was at the controls of their airplane. After departing from Trebujena, the plane was on its way to Coria del Rio, a small town near Seville, Spain. As they neared their destination, the husband suddenly lost consciousness.
Despite having no prior flying experience, the woman stayed calm and took over the controls. She flew the aircraft for 90 minutes, though she couldn’t see the ground because they were above the clouds when her husband became unresponsive. Adding to the challenge, she struggled to read the compass.
Air traffic controllers dispatched a helicopter to assist her in guiding the plane, and she successfully made a landing. However, she touched down 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) short of the runway, in an orange grove. Though she was shaken, burned, and bruised, she was otherwise unharmed. Sadly, her husband was pronounced dead at the scene.
1. Troy Jenkins
In January 2014, 19-year-old Troy Jenkins faced a life-or-death situation when he found himself in the cockpit of a Cessna Piper PA-28-180, alongside 61-year-old pilot Derek Neville. After takeoff in Central West New South Wales, Australia, Neville suddenly lost consciousness.
Jenkins kept the plane in the air while radioing for help. Nearby pilot Paul Reynolds guided him, instructing him to “maintain altitude and fly around the airfield.” Jenkins followed the instructions until Neville regained consciousness and was able to land the plane. Although Jenkins had taken a few lessons with Neville, he had never been trained to land the aircraft himself.
Neville was examined at the Orange Base Hospital. As per his wife, Merle, he underwent both heart and brain scans, but doctors were unable to determine a specific diagnosis.
