Passenger crash-lands plane after pilot suffers heart attack

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_ho.../26454926.html



Passenger crash-lands plane after pilot suffers heart attack

By J.M. KALIL
REVIEW-JOURNAL
A man whose only flight instruction was glider lessons 25 years ago guided a
private plane to an emergency crash landing at North Las Vegas Airport on
Thursday after the pilot suffered a fatal heart attack.
Pilot Douglas Reichardt, 49, owner of the popular El Jefe's Mexican
Restaurant & Cantina in Henderson, died at University Medical Center
following the 9:14 a.m. crash of his twin-engine Gulfstream I.
The plane circled several times while attempting an approach, and the
passenger who took over its controls had at least one close call before
bringing it in, North Las Vegas Fire Department Capt. Jay Wittwer said.
"It was a little bit too low, and he almost hit some apartments to the
north," Wittwer said.
Landing gear lowered, the plane touched down about 100 feet short of the
runway. The crash broke all three wheels off the aircraft, which skidded to
a stop on its belly without catching fire.
"It was amazing," Wittwer said. "He missed buildings and was able to get the
plane back to home base and walk away."
The two passengers, whose names were not released, emerged from the plane on
their own with minor injuries, and firefighters pulled the pilot from the
aircraft. They were all taken to UMC, where the pilot died within hours,
hospital officials said.
Reichardt had filed a flight plan to San Diego before the plane took off
from North Las Vegas at 8:30 a.m., said Donn Walker, a spokesman for the
Federal Aviation Administration in Hawthorne, Calif.
Shortly afterward, Reichardt told air traffic control in Los Angeles that he
needed to return to North Las Vegas and was approved to do so, Walker said.
In the plane's next communication, a passenger informed air traffic control
at McCarran International Airport that Reichardt was incapacitated.
"He was given directions to orient the plane back to North Las Vegas and
told he could land on any of the three runways," Walker said.
After the crash landing, the passenger who guided the plane to the ground
told officials at the airport his only previous experience controlling an
aircraft involved a few lessons piloting gliders in the late 1970s.
Wittwer said the two passengers were Southern Nevada residents who appeared
to be in their 50s.
Employees at El Jefe's declined to comment.

On Fri, 06 May 2005 17:46:31 GMT, "R.L." wrote in
: :

the passenger who guided the plane to the ground
told officials at the airport his only previous experience controlling an
aircraft involved a few lessons piloting gliders in the late 1970s.

I'd say that passenger did a remarkable job of setting down a 24
passenger, 23,639lb empty weight with two 1,990 Hp turboprop engines
mini airliner safely.

Larry Dighera wrote:

On Fri, 06 May 2005 17:46:31 GMT, "R.L." wrote in
: :


the passenger who guided the plane to the ground
told officials at the airport his only previous experience controlling an
aircraft involved a few lessons piloting gliders in the late 1970s.


I'd say that passenger did a remarkable job of setting down a 24
passenger, 23,639lb empty weight with two 1,990 Hp turboprop engines
mini airliner safely.



What am I missing? The plane pictured on the Houston local news
regarding the Vegas incident was a picture of an Aero-Commander with
part of the landing gear shorn off. 24 people in that would be like
clowns in a volkswagon at the circus. High to mid wing.. didn't look
anything like a G-1.

The N number off the plane is N337DR. I read it myself off the video at
http://www.klas-tv.com/ . The FAA registry shows that it is a GULFSTREAM
AM CORP COMM DIV Model 695A. I am suspecting that the
Rockwell/aero-commander line was bought out by Gulfstream at some point
in the past, causing the Associated Press to misquote this aircraft as a
G-I. But the airplane type is clearly of Rockwell lineage.

Dave

"Dave S" wrote in message The FAA registry shows that it is a GULFSTREAM
AM CORP COMM DIV Model 695A. I am suspecting that the
Rockwell/aero-commander line was bought out by Gulfstream at some point
in the past, causing the Associated Press to misquote this aircraft as a
G-I.

AP never misquotes- just ask them. They don't print many corrections, so
they must not make many mistakes.

Gulfstream did own the Commander line at one time. They did attach the
corporate monicker to the -690 line. Additionally, the real G-1 requires a
Second-in-Command.

D.

"Dave S" wrote in message The FAA registry shows that it is a GULFSTREAM
AM CORP COMM DIV Model 695A. I am suspecting that the
Rockwell/aero-commander line was bought out by Gulfstream at some point
in the past, causing the Associated Press to misquote this aircraft as a
G-I.

The Rockwell Commander line was sold off long before there was any
relationship with Gulfstream (was there ever...I forget).

They're now owned/called Twin Commander's.
http://www.twincommander.com/commanderhistory.htm

Just for grins!!

"Dave S" wrote in message
ink.net...
[...]
The N number off the plane is N337DR. I read it myself off the video at
http://www.klas-tv.com/ . The FAA registry shows that it is a GULFSTREAM
AM CORP COMM DIV Model 695A. I am suspecting that the
Rockwell/aero-commander line was bought out by Gulfstream at some point in
the past, causing the Associated Press to misquote this aircraft as a G-I.
But the airplane type is clearly of Rockwell lineage.

Phew. I thought I'd really confused myself when I saw that footage on the
news and then read Larry's post.

But yes, searching for "gulfstream 695A" on Google quickly shows that your
guess about Gulfstream owning the product line at some point is correct.
Calling the accident aircraft a Gulfstream-I is pretty much par for the
course from a group of folks that have in the past written of a twin-engine
Cessna 150.

Pete

Peter Duniho wrote:


Calling the accident aircraft a Gulfstream-I is pretty much par for the
course from a group of folks that have in the past written of a twin-engine
Cessna 150.

Pete


Heh... its ok.. I flew in a Socata/EADS/Whatever it is Tampico TB-9
today doing Young Eagles stuff... and Ellington tower kept calling me a
Cessna.... and calling me as a Cessna to traffic..

Hello!!! High Wing not there. I'm a LOW WING :P So.. if the Guvmint
cant get it right, how can we expect the media to...

Dave

On Sat, 07 May 2005 01:34:18 GMT, Dave S
wrote in . net::

causing the Associated Press to misquote this aircraft as a
G-I. But the airplane type is clearly of Rockwell lineage.


Thanks for clearing that up. I hadn't seen the photos, and went by
the news account.