Passenger Lands Cessna 150 After Pilot Incapacitation

A woman passenger made a hard landing in a Cessna 150 on Friday evening, October 18 at Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport (KGVL) in Gainesville, Georgia, after the pilot was incapacitated. Sadly, the pilot later died, according to the Aviation Safety Network, though it is unclear whether his death resulted from the hard landing, the medical emergency, or a combination of both.


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/15-minute-flight-ends-in-high-drama

At least once a week we’re told how rare it is for a pilot to become incapacitated during flight.

I don’t understand why the need to specify the passenger was a woman. I don’t recall any other story from AvWeb where you write that a “man passenger” landed the plane. It’s just not relevant to the story—certainly not in the opening words.

I think the sex of the passenger is relevant. The wording could have been chosen better. Such as:
The passenger in a Cessna 150, an unidentified woman, made a hard landing on Friday evening… blah blah blah.

In my opinion it was quite apropos given the times to acknowledge the pilot’s gender and associated skills. My wife just hit a (stationary) light pole in a parking lot driving my 5 day old FS CyberTruck (no injuries thankfully). It will likely remain in the repair shop through the holidays.

I have no idea why the comment above is bolded. And unfortunately, even after a recent upgrade at AVweb and over a quarter century since I made my first million selling a graphic web development company one still cannot upload an image to this forum. @ElonMusk was right, old folks must die for progress to happen.

I got more hilarity from the “(stationary) light pole” than I did from the “woman lands a plane”. I’ve never seen a non-stationary light pole.

Don’t joke. After 10 years on a rescue squad, I can tell you without a doubt that telephone poles, trees and stop signs DO move. They jump into the path of oncoming cars on a very regular basis.

Which is WHY no mention of the all female navy crew crashing a P-8A in Kaneohe Bay last year was given. It would give the wrong “signal” about associating gender with skills.

Skill level: I grew a little frustrated with all the “helpful” comments on freq that used so much pilot lingo I’m surprised they didn’t cause a crash. First the rpms? Where is the gauge, what do you do to make that happen? They assumed WAY too much from this poor unanticipated PIC. Keep it simple, calm and don’t speak in aviation terms. This should be a recording on how NOT to do it. Clear the frequency, keep it simple, don’t step on each other.

Which unfortunately deprives the crew of the constructive feedback we all need to continue to improve as airmen.

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How is her genitalia relevant to the conversation?

So there’s an association between genitalia and skills? Let me guess—you think an unlicensed penis-wielder is better at flying than a licensed vagina-haver. That’s what you think if you believe in an association between genitalia and skills.

That Cybertruck shouldn’t exist. What a poorly-designed eyesore.

This was my thought as well. They just assumed she knew what any of that was oh how to add any throttle. I don’t know about you, but I don’t give my passengers flight lessons on “here’s the throttle, here’s this gauge and this is what it does, and that gauge.” I do usually let my passengers do some straight-and-level with some gentle turns (obviously my hands are on the yoke, and they know hands off if I say my controls) if they want to, but they don’t get a full-out flight lesson. The presumption that she knew anything that they were talking about shows that those men were kind of idiots about it. Thank goodness someone else helped her get down.

Probably got her the ride in the first place. And I mean that in the most complimentary way it could have been stated.

Actually, there is a association. Female humans generally have better hand/eye coordination than the males.

The author mentioned the sex; the questions came as why it was relevant.