機長暴斃乘客接手安然降落
更新日期:2009/04/15 03:22

飛機還在天上飛，駕駛突然失去行為能力，乘客被迫接手開飛機，這是電影中常看到的情節，不料同樣情節十三日居然發生在美國人道格拉斯．懷特（Doug White）身上，幸好懷特有駕駛小飛機的經驗，讓飛機平安降落。

這起空中驚魂記約從下午一點半鐘開始，一架「超空王」（Super King Air）雙渦輪推進引擎客機從佛羅里達州馬可島起飛，目的地是密西西比州傑克森市，該機起飛後不久進入邁阿密航管區，駕駛向管制中心報告飛機航高九千英尺且持續爬升。

接下來航管員兩次呼叫都得不到回應，過一會兒無線電傳來另一個人的聲音，這人說他是道格拉斯．懷特，和妻子及兩個女兒是機上乘客，而駕駛已昏迷不醒，飛機自動駕駛且持續向上爬升。

懷特事後受訪表示，他飛過一百三十小時的「西斯納」單引擎小飛機，有飛機駕駛執照。而在航管員的指導下，懷特先解除自動駕駛，然後飛向西南佛羅里達國際機場，之後由機場塔台接手，塔台找來熟悉「超空王」的專家，教導懷特如何操控各種按鈕和儀表。幸好飛機安全降落。專家說，懷特以前駕駛的單引擎小飛機和這種雙渦輪推進引擎客機大不相同，能夠讓飛機平安落地很不簡單。

飛機駕駛是六十七歲的卡布克，事後被證實業已死亡，可能是心臟病發作。

本則新聞由中時電子報提供 2009/04/15

4月12日發生在美國的事情，可能在台灣新聞讀者的眼中看起來非常新奇而且不可思議，因為在台灣飛行的飛行員都是航空公司、持有商用、甚至航空運輸執照的飛行員。但是在美國通用航空(general aviation)非常發達的地方，飛行員就真的是形形色色了，從專業的，到這次心臟病發的商用飛行員，到現在在這裡敲部落格，一年或兩年才去美國飛一次的我，也是他們GA世界的一伙勒。所以管制員可以找到會飛kingair的朋友，然後藉由他的協助告知天上的飛行員如何操作，這如電影情節般(turbulance第一集就是這樣演的)的過程便在真實世界發生了。

FAA或許把這件事情當成了英雄事件，錄音也馬上就公佈在FAA的網站。剛剛聽了一下，覺得非常精采，而且也很值得我們學習。

錄音裡，管制員的聲音非常沉著，即使他面對的是一件非常有失敗潛力的狀況，但是最令人佩服的，還是他在轉達所有相關操作的時候。雖然他們的母語都是英文，但是我可以相信，如果沒有足夠的背景，是無法這麼清楚傳達所有操作的細節的。或許我們身為ATC的可以自省，如果這件事情發生在我們的身上，我們有沒有辦法馬上傳達出指導者所要說的東西。或許光是要理解就已經有困難了，是不是呢？

此外，這個ATC給他很多的時間，充裕的空間對於飛行的修正是很重要的，就像天氣越糟，我們引導飛機攔截五邊的位置就不能太近是類似的。當然對付有問題的飛機，管制員幾乎都會把空間讓給他，只是其他的飛機可能就得忍受一下可能的延誤了。

這位ATC也持續地提供飛行員他所看到的狀況，包含航向、高度、速度，並且持續提供他機場的位置資訊，而且還要同時轉達飛行狀態所需要的參數(例如進場速度、襟翼的設定、何時放下起落架)，並且接收空中這位飛行員的詢問，回頭詢問指導者後回覆，這中間到底有多少的溝通，有多少人一起在做這件事情我們看不出來，但是我可以想像面對這架飛機的管制員，那無數的資訊要同時壓在他身上時的那種感覺有多麼地令人窒息，但是從錄音聽起來他真的是穩定極了。

當然一些很基本的緊急狀況處置，例如單一頻道的使用在這個通話就很清楚，甚至連塔台都沒有換，所以這位管制員一路從天上管到地上，他的下一個交接席位就是地面管制席了。想當然這就是近場台跟塔台已經做好了協調。如此可以減少因為無線電交換造成飛行員的工作量，甚至有的時候錯誤就發生在換頻道的過程中呢。

飛行員在空中可能遇上的狀況是誰都難以料想的。在台灣這種航空公司為主的世界，通常飛機上都有兩個駕駛，他們的素質理應都足以應付，只是一個人的工作負擔會太大，在我剛進航管的那一年，就是華航發生駕駛員失能的那一年，那一直是個令人印象深刻的案例(CAL681 飛安會調查報告)，在地面的管制員能對這樣的狀況做些什麼事情呢？如果事情發生的是兩個駕駛都失能了，乘客上來開飛機，管制員又能幫上什麼忙呢？這次FAA的案例中，比較幸運的是這架飛機本來就屬於這個最後開飛機的人，而且他也擁有PPL執照，所以他本身是有基本的飛行底子的。如果面對一個真的對航空全然不知的人，如何把需要的訊息用最簡單最能理解的方式傳達出去呢？

美國接連在短短的幾個月內出現了兩樁航空英雄事件，運氣佔了一點，但是我相信專業的素養才是真的造就這一切的來源吧。只是台灣的航管訓練背景，又到底足不足以應付這一切呢？這或許是我們應該思考的。

在聽真正的錄音之前，就先來回味一下1997年的電影「TURBULENCE(空中驚魂?)」裡面的一些片段吧.... 不知道FAA這位管制員當時腦海裡是不是也浮現出了這部電影的畫面？

接下來的就是真正的對話囉
(來源 http://www.faa.gov/data_research/accident_incident/2009-4-12/ )
聲音可能因為天空轉檔不夠清楚會有點抖動
您可以到上列網址下載FAA公佈的MP3

以下是FAA的新聞稿

Pilot Stricken, Controllers to the Rescue

Updated: 11:02 am ET April 15, 2009

April 14 – Two air traffic controllers are rapidly earning heaps of praise for helping a distressed passenger guide a plane to safety Sunday after the pilot died in the cockpit.

Brian Norton and Dan Favio, who both work the TRACON at Southwest Florida International Airport in Ft. Myers, helped a passenger sitting in the co-pilot's seat as he guided the twin-engine plane to safety after the pilot's apparent heart attack.

“I couldn't be more proud of them,” said Steve Bushey, the tower's manager. “We’re happy to have a good story and particularly because the outcome was positive. You can’t beat that.”

One of the passengers, Doug White, who previously had only flown single-engine planes, was forced under the circumstances to fly his family to the airport after he declared an emergency.

White already had enough on his mind. He was returning to Louisiana — with a stop in Mississippi to retrieve his truck — after attending a funeral for his only brother. His wife and two teenage daughters were in the back of the plane and now he was charged with getting them on the ground.

A few minutes into the flight of N559DW, when the King Air 200 was 10,000 feet aloft and climbing, White radioed the Miami Center that there was an emergency. Controllers at the Ft. Myers airport were quickly notified, and a radar scope showing only the King Air was set up in the tower.

Controller Brian Norton was walking down the hallway and ready to leave for the day when his supervisor called him back because of his piloting experience.

He plugged into the console and “could tell the pilot was struggling a little bit to get the plane under control. He told me he was getting alarms in the cockpit and he was descending too fast,” Norton said. “It’s a pretty complex airplane.”

Dan Favio, a developmental controller who has been with FAA for six months after military and private contracting controller experience, learned of the problem while he was eating lunch.

Thinking quickly, he called a friend and flight instructor, Kari Sorenson, who had thousands of hours of flight experience on the King Air 200.

“I sat beside Brian and called [Sorenson],” Favio said. “He just happened to be sitting in his office and he was able to pull out the checklist for the [King Air 200] and the cockpit diagram.”

As the pilot asked questions – air speed, flap control, trim locations – Favio relayed the questions back to his friend.

Favio, who also has logged some time behind single-engine planes, said his biggest concern was that White would slow the plane too much. Because landing speeds for twin-engine airplanes are much faster than those for single-engine planes, Favio continued to tell Norton, who then told White, what the minimum airspeed was and not to drop below it.

“He definitely had his hands full. He was concerned about being able to handle that airplane,” Norton said.

That the pilot had his hands full isn’t surprising. Sorenson said the King Air 200 is “one of the most complicated airplanes to fly.”

At first, White reported having difficulty trying to control the King Air 200. Sorenson told him – through the controllers – to fly it like it was a single-engine plane.

“Once he started doing that that’s when things really started to settle down,” Sorenson said.

About six miles from Runway 6, with the winds nearly calm, White asked for final approach speed. Favio asked his friend and the answer was quickly relayed to White.

Through that relay, Norton helped White line up his approach, adjust his flaps to the proper setting and put the landing gears down at the proper airspeed and altitude.

Meanwhile, Favio was calling out altitudes and airspeeds to Sorenson. Everything looked good, but Favio was worried the pilot was coming in a little bit short of the 12,000-foot runway at the Ft. Myers airport.