Passenger lands plane in Fla. after pilot dies

TAMPA, Fla. – Doug White and his family had just enjoyed a smooth takeoff and were ascending through the clouds when the pilot guiding their twin-engine plane tilted his head back and made a guttural sound.

The retired jet pilot, Joe Cabuk, was unconscious. And though White had his pilot's license, he had never flown a plane as large as this.

"I need help. I need a King Air pilot to talk to. We're in trouble," he radioed.

Then he turned to his wife and two daughters, ages 16 and 18: "You all start praying hard." Behind him, his wife trembled. Sixteen-year-old Bailey cried. Eighteen-year-old Maggie threw up.

White, 56, landed the plane on his own about 30 minutes later, coaxed through the harrowing ordeal by air traffic controllers who described exactly how to bring the aircraft to safety. The pilot died, but White somehow managed.

White had logged about 150 hours recently flying a single-engine Cessna 172 but had no experience flying the faster, larger King Air. He declared an emergency to air traffic controllers — White already knew how to use the radio. On Sunday afternoon, he got his first lesson landing the larger craft.

They were on their way home from Marco Island, where they'd traveled after his brother died from a heart attack the week before. White owns the King Air plane and leases it out through his company, Archibald, La.-based White Equipment Leasing LLC.

White got his pilot's license in 1990, but said 18 years had passed since he recently started flying again.

White had his wife try to remove the pilot from his seat — afraid that he'd slump down and hit the controls.

But the space was too small. His wife couldn't remove him. They strapped him back in.

White knew they were supposed to stop at 10,000 feet altitude, but he watched as they continued their ascent, thousands of feet higher than they were supposed to be traveling.
... more http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090413/ap_on_re_us/passenger_lands_plane

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