Air Traffic Controllers Guide Passenger to Land Plane Safely

choi

(1) Miracle in the Air: Air Traffic Controllers Guide Passenger to Land Plane Safely. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA; under US Department of Transportation), May 11, 2022
https://medium.com/faa/miracle-i ... safely-27362004f07c
("At noon EDT on Tuesday, May 10, the pilot of a Cessna 208 flying to Florida from the Bahamas told his two passengers he wasn’t feeling well. He fell against the controls, putting the aircraft into a nosedive and sharp turn. * * * At that point, one of the passengers jumped into action. He pulled the aircraft out of the nosedive and called Fort Pierce Tower * * * Controller Christopher 'Chip' Flores at Fort Pierce Tower received the radio call and asked the passenger the location of the plane. The passenger did not know where the aircraft was. With assistance from operational supervisor Justin Boyle, Flores calmly instructed the man to fly straight ahead and to start a gradual descent allowing time for air traffic control to locate the aircraft. Joshua Somers, operations supervisor at Palm Beach air traffic control facility, rushed to provide help in tracking it. The plane was identified as being approximately 20 miles from Boca Raton Airport over the Atlantic Airport [sic; should be Atlantic Ocean].  Flores advised the passenger to change his radio frequency to Palm Beach air traffic control, but the passenger did not know how to change frequencies. So, basic emergency radios were used to talk to the passenger. Flores reassured the passenger that a controller at the Palm Beach air traffic facility would help him. * * * The lead air traffic controller at Palm Beach air traffic facility, Gregory Battani, quickly called that controller, Robert Morgan, a certified flight instructor with experience piloting Cessna aircraft, from his break to guide the pilot to Palm Beach Airport. * * * The air traffic manager, Ryan Warren, printed a photo of the Cessna 208 cockpit for Morgan's reference. * * * The passenger initially wanted to land at Boca Raton, but Morgan instead guided him to Palm Beach International Airport because it had a longer runway, was less congested, and had adequate radio coverage. * * * The aircraft successfully landed at 12:27 pm local time. First responders were there to assist with the original pilot. Neither passenger had any injuries.")

Note:
(a) The only Atlantic Airport in US is Atlantic Municipal Airport
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Municipal_Airport
("(IATA: AIO), is a city-owned public-use airport located two miles (3 km) west of the central business district of [City of] Atlantic, a city in Cass County, Iowa")
(b) Chip (name)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_(name)   
("is often a diminutive form of Charles or Christopher or Gaetano")
(c) "Robert Morgan, a certified flight instructor with experience piloting Cessna aircraft"

However, it appears that Morgan has not piloted 208 before. See quotation in (3)(b). That is why "Ryan Warren[] printed a photo of the Cessna 208 cockpit for Morgan's reference." Morgan then directed the passengers who saw the controls -- the real thing -- before him.
(d) The posting does not appear at the FAA official website.
(e) Medium (website)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medium_(website)
(2012- )
(f)
(i) Cessna
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna
(cofounded by Clyde Cessna, a Kansas farmer; "was purchased by General Dynamics in 1985, then by Textron, Inc [current owner, which started out as a textile maker (no longer) in Boston, hence the first three letters in company name], in 1992"/ section 3 Aircraft models: including "Cessna 208 Caravan – high-wing single-turboprop utility aircraft in production since 1984")
(ii) For high-wing, see monoplane
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoplane
(section 2 Wing position)


(2) How did air traffic control (ATC) at Fort Pierce Airport locate the Cessna? ATC has radar at his disposal, of course. But this time, it was transponder. See transponder (aeronautics)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transponder_(aeronautics)


(3) Katherine Kokal and Mike Diamond, Passenger Lands Plane at Florida Airport After Pilot Is Incapacitated. Palm Beach Post, May 12, 2022
https://www.palmbeachpost.com/st ... citated/9729414002/

My comment:
(a) The report borrows without attribution from (or plagiarizes) the above FAA posting.
(b) "The nine-seater Cessna 208 Caravan was on the way back from The Bahamas just before noon when the pilot told his passengers he wasn't feeling well. He fell against the controls [panel on the plane], putting the aircraft into a nosedive and sharp turn. * * * 'We need to slow you down some,' Morgan said but he had never flown the plane [I guess it means 208]. He was fairly certain that the brakes were on top of the rudder pedal. He was right. * * * the plane landed at PBIA just after 4:30 pm"

The landing time clearly conflicts with that in the FAA posting, the latter of which I trust, as it is impossible for Cessna to hover in air for four hours trying to land. So there is no need to read the rest of this Palm Beach Post report. But do view an online map there. Se next.
(c) This online report has a map with caption: "The floight path for N333LD, a single turbiprop jet that passengers were forced to land at Palm Beach International Airport on May 10, 2022 FLIGHTAWARE"
(i) FlightAware is a flight tracker, whose website is Flightaware.com. There are many such websites.
(ii) In this map:
(A) The intended destination was Fort Pierce airport (FPR);
(B) Boca Raton airport
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boca_Raton_Airport
(IATA: BCT; "is publicly owned * * * The airport has a control tower which is manned from 7:00am to 11:00pm"/ table: Owner: State of Florida)
(C) Click IATA above and one reaches
IATA airport code
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IATA_airport_code
(section 2 Naming conventions, section 2.1 National policies, section 2.1.1 United States)
(D) The three-letter IATA code for Palm Beach International Airport is PBI, not PBIA.
(E) Jupiter, Florida
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter,_Florida
("is the northernmost town in Palm Beach County, Florida. According to the 2020 Census, the town had a population of 61,047 as of April 1, 2020. It is 87 miles north of Miami"/ section 8 Points of interest: "William P Gwinn Airport is located in Jupiter")
is 15 air miles north of West Palm Beach, Florida
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Palm_Beach,_Florida
("is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The population was 117,415 at the 2020 census. * * * The city is served by Palm Beach International Airport, located in unincorporated Palm Beach County")

Palm Beach Post's ONLINE title mentions "Jupiter air traffic controller." But I scrutinize the facts and find
• William P Gwinn Airport is not equipped with ATC, is unguided, privately owned and for private use; and
• Robert Morgan, the controller at issue, is a "Jupiter resident" but worked at PBI.
(F) In this map, IATA code INA stands for Palm Beach County Park/Lantana Airport.