Pilot of Boston-bound flight dies en route; co-pilot makes emergency landing

By adamg on Mon, 10/05/2015 - 5:02pm

WCVB reports.

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Comments

Hooray For Redundancy!

By SwirlyGrrl on Mon, 10/05/2015 - 5:41pm.

This is why we have regulators to compel airlines to retain copilots.

Sad for the family and for the crew, too. At least the tragedy wasn't compounded.

Yup

By BostonDog on Mon, 10/05/2015 - 6:12pm.

Out of curiosity I looked up what the requirements are to have a co-pilot: There are many but the most basic is that one is required if the plane is over 12,500 lbs.

Apparently some rich and inexperienced pilots try to move up to larger planes and try to get around the two pilot recommendation but it's the additional cost of insurance which puts a damper on that idea.

Wealthy pilots....

By Neighbor2 on Tue, 10/06/2015 - 1:01am.

Very happy the AA flight landed safely and sad for the pilot's family and all involved.

As for wealthy pilots, there are a lot of related Aviation cliches, many revolving around doctors. I don't know the exact history behind the 12,500lb co-pilot requirement, but the weight of the plane "generally" corresponds to complexity and/or potential number of passengers, etc.,

Cliche Examples: http://airfactsjournal.com/2012/05/dicks-blog-whats-wrong-with-cirrus-pi...

Why were V35’s called forked tail doctor killers? Because the plane was unsafe in its design? No sir. It was the fact that wealthy owners that didn’t respect the complexities of true IFR flight in high speed complex aircraft got into situations they couldn’t handle.

Two of the most dangerous things in the world are a South Georgia pulpwood truck, and a doctor in a split tail bonanza. http://www.skygod.com/quotes/cliches.html

The copilot thing

By fenwayguy on Tue, 10/06/2015 - 2:24am.

"The co-pilot is fully qualified to fly the airplane. It's rare, but they train for it."

Wallace seems to imply that it's rare for the copilot to operate the controls. In fact, according to local expert Patrick Smith:

A copilot is not an apprentice. He or she shares flying duties with the captain more or less equally.... Copilots perform just as many takeoffs and landings as captains do, in pretty much all weather conditions, and both are part of the decision-making process.

What's rare in commercial aviation is for a pilot to fly solo.

RIP Capt. Michael Johnston, and hats off to his copilot, crew and passengers.

Exactly

By roadman on Tue, 10/06/2015 - 10:45am.

In a two man crew, one pilot is Pilot Flying and the other is Pilot Not Flying (to use the NTSB terminology). Generally, on a multi-leg trip, the captain and first officer will alternate duties - on the first leg, the captain will be PF, on the second leg, the first officer will be PF.

It's also important to emphasize that, regardless of rank, all commercial pilots receive the same level of training on the aircraft they are qualified to fly. They also have to go through the same number of proficency checks every year as well.

And, yes, RIP to Captain Johnston and condolences to his family and friends.

Misquoted?

By anon on Tue, 10/06/2015 - 2:23pm.

Wow, this guy led the FAA's accident-investigations office from 2000 to 2008 and he is saying that it’s “rare” for the first officer to fly the plane? Why would he say something that he knows isn’t true? I would bet he was misquoted.