Youth lands glider after dad blacks out at 3,000 feet

14-year-old gets radio help from the ground: 'He saved his dad's life'


Heather Travis, Vancouver Sun
Published: Wednesday, July 26, 2006

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/v...4-c98588f6e9a7

PEMBERTON -- It was 5 p.m. on cloudless Monday afternoon at the
Pemberton Soaring Centre when the sound of a young man's voice came
over the two-way radio, catching Rudy Rozsypulek's attention.

"This is Alex Ackerman. My dad passed out and I'm flying the plane. I
don't know what to do," the voice said.

"That's when it all went haywire," Rozsypulek told The Vancouver Sun,
following an interview with Global BC.

It was the first flight the year for 14-year-old Alex and his dad Alan
Ackerman of Vancouver. And by the situation Alex had described,
Rozsypulek, a pilot, feared it would be their last.

The L-23 Blanik glider plane the father and son pair had rented earlier
in the day from Rozsypulek's business was at 1,200 feet with only a
inexperienced teenager at the helm.

Moments earlier, disaster had struck -- twice. In an interview with The
Sun Tuesday, Alex said the glider had just reached 3,000 feet when the
rope connecting the glider to the tow plane broke and the glider took a
nose dive.

At the same time, pilot Alan Ackerman slumped unconscious in the front
seat.

Alex, seated behind his father in the two-seat tandem glider, said that
at first he didn't realize his dad had passed out, even as the glider
continued to plummet toward the earth.

"At that time I thought my dad was straining incredibly hard to pull
back on the [control] stick," he said.

But Alex, who only started flying earlier this month, quickly realized
he was the only one in control. Keeping a level head, he sprung into
action.

"I grabbed the stick around 1,200 feet ... and by the time we were just
under 1,000 feet, at 900 feet, I leveled out," he said.

Then he radioed for help.

Rozsypulek was the one to answer Alex's call, and, together, the two
agreed to a landing plan.

Rozsypulek, a flight instructor, would tell the teen what to do, and
the teen would do exactly what he said.

With only 10 glider lessons under his belt, Alex managed to land the
plane, under Rozsypulek's guidance, within 50-metres of the landing
location.

Typically, a licensed glider pilot has completed 30 lessons before
flying solo.

"When it was needed, he was there," said Rozsypulek, adding he was
"amazed" by how calm the teen remained throughout the ordeal.

"He saved his own life and his dad's life."

Alex played down his own heroics, saying, "I managed to land the plane
without breaking it or kill my dad in the process."

Under "slightly different circumstances" Alex said he could have landed
the plane on his own. "But [this] was such a dramatic thing, I was not
where I was used to, so [Rudy] helped me do an impromptu landing," he
said.

"I am acquainted with what can happen and knew vaguely what to do in
certain situations ... that helped."

By the time the plane had landed, Alan Ackerman had regained
consciousness. He was taken to Vancouver General Hospital and was back
at home Tuesday.