B1 Pilot Helps 737 Pilot W/Heart Attack

I did a search. Hope this isn't a repost

Bomber pilot helped in airline cockpit during emergency - CNN.com

It sounds like the plot from an old movie: airline crew members make this passenger announcement, "Is anyone on board a pilot?"

That was the situation last December when Air Force Capt. Mark Gongol and his wife and daughter were traveling from Des Moines to Denver aboard a United Boeing 737.

"I looked at my wife and she looked back at me and she said, 'I think you should ring the call button,'" Gongol told CNN on Tuesday.

Gongol, who pilots B1B Lancer bombers, already could tell something was wrong. Flight attendants were rushing to the front of the aircraft. One was carrying a first-aid kit.

When Gongol reached the cockpit, it was clear the captain was in trouble. Passengers and crew were helping him out of the cockpit. A cot had been set up. The captain looked pale and clammy from an apparent heart attack, Gongol remembered.
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Gongol stepped onto the flight deck and came eye to eye with the first officer.

"There was a moment," he recalled. "We both had about five seconds to size each other up. She was wondering about my level of experience. Was I a Cessna driver -- or a professional pilot?

"I wanted to make sure she was OK. I had a feeling she was -- she was better than OK. She had already made the decision to turn the plane toward the nearest airport."

Gongol strapped himself in and did what he could to help get the plane to the airport in Omaha.

Never taking the controls, Gongol acted as a backup for the first officer. He worked the radio, communicating with air traffic controllers -- updating them on the condition of the captain, passengers and the aircraft.

Although he never suspected he would have to fly the plane, piloting a B1B bomber isn't too different from a 737, Gongol explained.

"A plane is a plane," he said. "It's like the difference between driving a pickup truck, or a sedan. The same skills transfer."

After landing, the airliner taxied as near a terminal gate as possible -- and ground crew maneuvered a rolling stairway to one of the plane's exits. The captain was rushed by ambulance for treatment.

After Gongol and his family got off the aircraft, they simply "slinked out the back door," with the Air Force pilot feeling confident he'd done all he could to help.

Gongol's story never surfaced until recently, when the Air Force received requests from news reporters.

Later Gongol received some good news: the captain had survived -- and recovered.

"The captain called me up a month or two later," Gongol remembered. "He said it was a really rotten event, but fortunately a lot of things fell into place."

And what did Gongol's wife say after this memorable flight? "She said, 'Good job,'" Gongol laughed. "She's a woman of few words. She was happy that I was there."

 

Nice story......

Being in the cockpit of that 737 was probably the most relaxing flight he had recently. No need to have a oxygen mask strapped onto your face like some sort of bondage device. No worry if one of the engines is going to catch fire, fall off or simply blow up in flight. No worry if other parts of the plane are going to catch fire, fall off or blow up in flight.

 

And a highly competent and qualified pilot already flying the airplane...

 

I like this part,
"There was a moment," he recalled. "We both had about five seconds to size each other up. She was wondering about my level of experience. Was I a Cessna driver -- or a professional pilot?

 

The USAF guy comes across much better in that one than in this one:

Off-duty bomber pilot landed Boeing 737 after pilot had heart attack | Mail Online

I wonder if the Daily Mail got it wrong, or CNN edited his comments a bit?

For any non-pilots out there, the notion of a trained airline pilot being the least bit bothered by landing at Omaha, even if they've never been there before, is comical.

 

Some Wyoming farmers will tell you that gear doors seemed to land in their crops every now and then from Ellsworth.

 

Is the real story not that Female pilot to control without any panic in a bad situation, made the right decsio9ns and landed the plane saftly. Was the ailine co pilot not really a Sully, someone who did not panic, made the right decisions in a calm manner sized up the Bomber pilot in a second took control of ewverything and did a great job.

Not denigrating what the guy did, but workign the radios and helping is not so huge, in his absence it seems she could have handles the situation anyway.

Suorely she shoudl get good credit here?

 

Exactly. It was nice that he helped, and I'm sure that made it a little easier for her, but the bottom line is that if he wasn't on the airplane, she would still have landed safely, with no drama.

She did a great job, and deserves to be commended.

 

Injecting sensationalism in news where there isn't any has become so pervasive that even the weather people are doing it now.

It's gone beyond sickening.


The curious thing to me about your statement is considering we have 2 qualified pilots on board and the work load in a situation like this is not beyond the capability of one why risk a panic among the passengers by walking out in the cabin and asking IS THERE ANYONE ABOARD THAT CAN FLY THIS THING? I mean really. That's like a scene from airplane. Its not like they were half way to Australia and having a back up in the cockpit is a good precaution.

 

Can you taxi a 737 from the right seat?

 

You'd probably know more than I do, but I believe a right seat tiller is available as an option from Boeing. Or, land from the right seat and switch to taxi in... probably safer than having a B1 guy who has never been in a 737 taxi...

 

I know that 767 and 777 have tillers on both sides all the time,
From research it appears that Co-pilot tiller is a customer option on the 737.

Differential braking might be possible to steer without a tiller.