The Stewardess is Flying the Plane after Pilot had mental breakdown

[RamboLiberal]

Couldn't resist that line from one of the cheesey Airport sequels. Well helping anyway in this story. I bet the newswriter of this article was channeling that movie as well since he/she used the term Stewardess as well as Flight Attendant.

DUBLIN, Ireland - An Air Canada co-pilot having a mental breakdown had to be forcibly removed from the cockpit, restrained and sedated, and a stewardess with flying experience helped the pilot safely make an emergency landing, an Irish investigation concluded Wednesday.

The report by the Irish Air Accident Investigation Unit into an incident in January applauded the decision-making of the pilot and the cockpit skills of the flight attendant, who stepped into the co-pilot's seat for the emergency diversion to Shannon Airport in western Ireland.

None of the 146 passengers or other nine crew members on board the Boeing 767 bound from Toronto to London was injured after the 58-year-old co-pilot had to be removed by attendants and sedated by two doctors on board.

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The pilot then asked flight attendants to find out if any passenger was a qualified pilot. When none was found, one stewardess admitted she held a current commercial pilot's license but said her license for reading cockpit instruments had expired.

"The flight attendant provided useful assistance to the commander, who remarked in a statement to the investigation that she was `not out of place' while occupying the right-hand seat," the report said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27808624/

[musette_sf]

1. geez, i thought this was about Palin/McCain n/t

[camera obscura]

16. HAHAHA!

:rofl:

[Missy Vixen]

2. There's 155 people walking around in the world

that might not have been if she wasn't cool under pressure and obviously of help.

You GO, girl. :woohoo:
Julie

[WI_DEM]

3. "Surely, you can't be serious?"

"I am, and don't call me Shirley."

[progdonkey]

4. "Does anybody here know how to fly a plane?"

Sounds more like "Airplane!" :rofl:

[donco6]

12. Followed by entire plane ordering double margaritas. n/t

[Tesha]

15. "Zero Hour"; accept no substitutes!

[xultar]

5. She just scored a new job if she wants it. U GOAH GHURL!

[cloudbase]

6. I'm curious.

What is a license for reading cockpit instruments? My license says nothing about that.

[RamboLiberal]

7. Not a pilot but probably Instrument Rating

http://www.risingup.com/fars/info/part61-65-FAR.shtml

[Aviation Pro]

9. Indeed an Instrument Rating....

...and she probably was either out of her six month currency or out of the extension of that six month currency. Either way, she wasn't Pilot In Command (PIC) and since she holds a Commercial Pilot's License she could sit right seat and assist the Captain in true work load management, CRM and TEM fashion.

Yeah, I'm in this business.

[DemoTex]

14. It would have been legal had she had only a private pilot license .. or no license.

Pilot incapacitation is an emergency. The PIC can get help from whomever he or she feels might enhance the safety of the operation. I would put the best qualified person I could round up in a short time in that right seat, if for no other reason than to read the checklist and watch for traffic.

BTW: I used to work with a great flight attendant. She quit and went off to Florida and got her ratings and experience. Then she got hired by my airline as a first officer (co-pilot). Soon after being hired and trained, she flew a trip with me as my first officer. She was top-notch.

[Aviation Pro]

18. Yep, forgot about the emergency thingy....

....this is what happens when I'm too much in a deep dive over grading standards.

[TexasObserver]

8. And don't call me Shirley.

"Manny Mota!"

[customerserviceguy]

10. Who uses the word 'stewardess' these days?

I thought they were all called 'flight attendants' now.

[petronius]

11. And why the word 'admitted'?

It makes it sound like she was embarrassed to have a license, or it was a bad thing for a 'stewardess' to have advanced skills.

Sounds to me like either this writer or this airline have somewhat archaic attitudes about flight attendants...

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. The British do, and perhaps the Irish do too

[reflection]

13. I love stories like this.

I love stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. It's inspiring.

[Berry Cool]

19. What I want to know is

did she get any help from Otto the Automatic Pilot?