Pilot Dies! Passenger TRIES To Land Plane!
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Published 2023-01-05
This was the scenario for Doug White and his family. They had just attended the funeral for Doug's brother and are now flying a charter flight home. This is Doug's second time in a King Air aircraft, both times as a passenger. However, he never expected he would have to learn how to be a pilot and fly when the pilot slumped over and died shortly after takeoff.
This was a nightmare scenario! Although this happened on a charter flight, it also happened on an American Airlines flight when the pilot died as the plane was taking off! That's probably one of the worst times for a pilot to die! If you want to see how that turned out, check out the full video here:
š Ā Ā Ā ā¢Ā AirlineĀ PilotĀ DIESĀ OnĀ Takeoff!Ā Ā
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If you want to see the full video of this story, including commentary from Doug White and the air traffic controllers, you can check it out here: Ā Ā Ā ā¢Ā PILOTĀ DIES,Ā PassengerĀ LandsĀ KingĀ AirĀ Ā
All Comments (21)
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Went to his brothers funeral. Pilot dies in the air. He's trying to save his family. Jesus. Can't make this shit up. He needs a true blessing.
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Doug made an excellent speech at NATCA following this incident. Truly unbelievable. He even went on earn all of his additional ratings and flew relief missions to Haiti. Absolutely inspirational.
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Once a pilot aways a pilot. Even haven't flown for 20 years and only on a single engine, he still remembers how to aviate and monitoring the instruments and asking right questions.
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That female controller had such a wise, emotionally-intelligent approach and a calm demeaor. She handled this situation like she has been there 68x before. Great controller.
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the lady controller did a TREMENDOUS job calming down the situation and knowing how to keep Doug prioritized.
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"It ain't over til its over, friend" may be the most bad ass real life thing I've ever heard.
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Lisa the controller is the one that saved his life. The first controller was a deer in the headlights.
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Everyone involved in this incident deserves nothing but the highest praise, but Doug? Man Doug is a stone cold legend, and a credit to his name šš
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I've heard the entire narrative on this before. If he had added a few more seconds to the video you would have heard Doug thanking the controller profusely as his voice finally began to break with gratitude and emotion. Remember, he didn't just save himself. He saved his family, his loved ones.
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This dude will be a legend in his kids eyes and this story will live on for generations in their family
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Shout out to Dougās family for not screaming and panicking in the background allowing him to fully concentrate on flying.
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I watched this right after the Pilot Debrief video about TNflyinggirl's fatal crash. Someone in the comments said that she knew how to fly the plane, but not how to be an aviator. This was exactly the opposite; Doug didn't know how to fly the plane, but boy did he know how to be an aviator. The reason that this tragedy only resulted in one death, rather than five, is all down to his cool head and calm judgment. I'm sorry Hoover didn't include Doug's final comment to ATC, when he was down and safe; his voice shakes and you can hear the worry, fear, and relief that he'd been suppressing in the name of getting his family down on the ground safely. What an amazing airman.
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I feel like having even a little experience on a totally different type of plane decades prior is about a thousand times better than having no experience at all.
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A few tidbits that Doug shared in a more recent interview. This transpired over several hours. During that time, the NTSB was notified and activated an investigation team not expecting a successful landing. Their aircraft was turned around in flight and send home - first time that has ever happened. Secondly, once he landed, he couldn't get the engines turned off. There was controller relaying information from the King Air pilot and his phone died right after he touched down. So no one could get to the aircraft. Finally, a pilot with Eastern (which was still flying then) who had King Air time, came on the radio and helped him out. All the commercial flights had been grounded for the entire time this was going on. Doug and his family caught a flight home, gratis, on Delta that night. We grew up in the same part of NE Louisiana.
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During the video I had to go to the comments, to see if they made it. I was so nervous and scared I could take it. Iām so happy they made it.
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so, being a very new pilot being asked to do a land on your own is terrifying. (id guess, all i have is msfs time) now, add to that your brother passing away that week and attending his funeral, then add to that the last time you flew a plane was 18 years ago...... now add to that a dead person next to you...... then add to that your whole family in the plane....... then add to that having to talk to multiple people on the ground and getting frustrated with the situation........ now add to that that you're an absolute superstar and its all as easy as Doug made it! that was amazing.
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Doug is the kind of guy you want to be with in an emergency. Calm demeanor, focused, skilled, plans ahead and even throws in humor at appropriate moments.
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Doug White actually owned the airplane at the time (through his company) and went on to get a commercial rating and fly the same plane on humanitarian missions to Hati and Belize as well as flights for Veteran Airlift Command. He eventually sold the plane but it's a heck of a story.
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Doug did a damn good job. I couldn't imagine having my pilot dead next to me with my family's lives in my hands. But Doug stayed calm, listened, repeated instructions to verify, and owned the situation.
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He got to meet those wonderful ATC who helped himā¦ they all earned the highest awards they can for their profession. Iām crying!!!
