Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

On May 10, a passenger on a flight to Florida in a Cessna 208 Caravan -- the same single-engine model flown by many air carriers in Alaska, including Alaska Seaplanes – successfully landed the aircraft with assistance from an air traffic controller after the pilot suffered a medical emergency.

Passenger Darren Harrison was on a flight from the Bahamas to Florida when the pilot became unresponsive. The plane began to nosedive, and Harrison, who works at a flooring company and had never flown a plane, figured out how to radio ground control for help.

An air traffic controller who is also a trained flight instructor coached him through steadying the plane and then flying to – and landing at -- Palm Beach International Airport.

A passenger landing a small plane is not unheard of, said Phoenix-based pilot Richard Spiegel, who has relatives in Haines. “It’s happened a number of times throughout the years,” Spiegel said. “You just push the transmit button on the radio and call to help.”

But Paul Swanstrom, a Haines commercial pilot who owns Mountain Flying Service, said he is skeptical it would work out the same way in Haines, which does not have an air traffic control station.

“The problem is who’s gonna talk the person down here,” he said. “It would have to be some other pilot on (the same radio) frequency talking the person down.”

Even if a passenger could reach another pilot, they might not be familiar with the specific plane. “It’s not just as simple as pushing the throttle in and out,” Swanstrom said.

Andy Kline, marketing manager at Alaska Seaplanes, said an untrained passenger completing a successful talk-down landing is “sensational because it never happens,” he said.

“We take extraordinary measures to make sure every flight we run is the safest possible flight,” he said. He also said Alaska Seaplanes is one of only a few airlines in the state to have implemented an FAA-approved safety management system.

The system includes a comprehensive pre-flight checklist that screens not only weather conditions but also the health of the pilot. It is on par with the safety management systems required of all large commercial airlines, he said.