Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: P0G0 on May 06, 2005, 12:53:30 PM
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Passenger crash-lands plane after pilot suffers heart attack
Las Vegas Review Journal
May 6, 2005
A man whose only flight instruction was glider lessons 25 years ago guided a private plane to an emergency crash landing at North Las Vegas Airport on Thursday after the pilot suffered a fatal heart attack.
Pilot Douglas Reichardt, 49, owner of the popular El Jefe's Mexican Restaurant & Cantina in Henderson, died at University Medical Center following the 9:14 a.m. crash of his twin-engine Gulfstream I.
The plane circled several times while attempting an approach, and the passenger who took over its controls had at least one close call before bringing it in, North Las Vegas Fire Department Capt. Jay Wittwer said.
"It was a little bit too low, and he almost hit some apartments to the north," Wittwer said.
Landing gear lowered, the plane touched down about 100 feet short of the runway. The crash broke all three wheels off the aircraft, which skidded to a stop on its belly without catching fire.
"It was amazing," Wittwer said. "He missed buildings and was able to get the plane back to home base and walk away."
The two passengers, whose names were not released, emerged from the plane on their own with minor injuries, and firefighters pulled the pilot from the aircraft. They were all taken to UMC, where the pilot died within hours, hospital officials said.
Reichardt had filed a flight plan to San Diego before the plane took off from North Las Vegas at 8:30 a.m., said Donn Walker, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Hawthorne, Calif.
Shortly afterward, Reichardt told air traffic control in Los Angeles that he needed to return to North Las Vegas and was approved to do so, Walker said.
In the plane's next communication, a passenger informed air traffic control at McCarran International Airport that Reichardt was incapacitated.
"He was given directions to orient the plane back to North Las Vegas and told he could land on any of the three runways," Walker said.
After the crash landing, the passenger who guided the plane to the ground told officials at the airport his only previous experience controlling an aircraft involved a few lessons piloting gliders in the late 1970s.
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I have an apartment right next to the North Las Vegas airport and saw this happen.. didnt realize what was really going on..pretty amazing. Maybe all this flight sim experiance will come in handy someday, tho I hope not.
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A flight simmers dream..
:)
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Originally posted by Hawklore
A flight simmers dream..
:)
from someone to die so you can fly the plane possibly?
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Originally posted by JB73
from someone to die so you can fly the plane possibly?
or maybe , that your sim experance might save your life and some others.
i wonder if he ended up on the runway so he could get a "landed sucessfuly" msg?
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You gotta admit though, if you found yourself in that situation and were able to put the plane down without any real stick time, that would be pretty dang cool..
:cool:
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Since playing AH I've ALWAYS had dreams about doing this with a 747 and hundreds of beautiful women aboard to save!
:D
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I have dreams about Padmé and other sweet things.
(http://www.sgtfretsurfer.com/Grilled-Sarlacc/c/padme/111.jpg)
(http://www.sgtfretsurfer.com/Grilled-Sarlacc/c/padme/g-3.jpg)
(http://www.sgtfretsurfer.com/Grilled-Sarlacc/c/padme/115.jpg)
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A Gulfstream I is no cakewalk to fly. A very early business class turboprop.
When I was in Las Vegas doing my CFIs...I stayed in the apartments just north of the airport that he's referring to. They were called the palm something or anothers on N. Decatur Ave.
Here's a photo I took while standing on the balcony:
(http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/621_1110563189_atpseminole.jpg)
It's on the departure leg, but it's straight out from a takeoff on 30R, the shorter of the parallel runways. 12R/30L was just offset from the apartments but it was still less than peaceful and quiet
I must say after living on the approach end of a busy airport with lots of turboprops it's something I never wish again to do. I thought being a propellerhead it would be neat...but I was wrong.
Dornier's make a racket coming over and Lear 25's are just crazy loud on departure.
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Originally posted by JB73
from someone to die so you can fly the plane possibly?
Actually mine involves food poisoning and unconscious pilots. Should they die from it.. well, wtf am I gonna do? I've got a jet to land.
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Originally posted by indy007
Actually mine involves food poisoning and unconscious pilots. Should they die from it.. well, wtf am I gonna do? I've got a jet to land.
:aok
Mine too, and a trio of grateful asian,swedish,and navajo stewardesses
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:rofl
as long as you know the stall speed, you'll be OK.
stay around 1.2 of that until you land, make sure you flare just before it touches down and kill the engines when you know you made the runway.
this should allow any plane to land with minimal damage. maybe not pretty, but survivable.
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You guys are amateurs...
Just keep full power, level 10 ft above the ground and go buzz the tower, THEN come around and try to land the thing.
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noob!! you forgot to add a victory roll!