Cockpit Chronicles: Pilot Incapacitation

Good Morning!

We were taxiing a DC-8 cargo airplane out for takeoff on a beautiful Miami morning.

I was the Flight Engineer. The Captain, Jerry, was the airline’s Chief Pilot, and our First Officer, Al, was a member of a renowned aviation family in South Florida.

I was running the taxi checklist when, without warning, Al’s arms shot up over his head, both hands clenched tightly into white-knuckled fists, and began shaking vigorously.

Jerry and I were both startled. Al’s sudden strange behavior immediately got our attention and stopped everything.

I released my seatbelt and leapt forward. Al’s eyes were rolling back in his head. His teeth were clenched, and he was drooling.

He was clearly having a seizure.

I eased his arms down into his lap and reached over to open his window. My mind raced as I tried to figure out what to do next and how to keep him from hurting himself.

As luck would have it, we were passing our airline’s ramp.

Almost as quickly as I can write this, Jerry requested clearance to pull into our ramp, canceled our taxi clearance, and requested an ambulance.

Within seconds, the parking brake was set. We shut down the engines, and the big DC-8 suddenly went quiet.

Then Al snapped out of it.

He turned and looked at Jerry and me.

We were both staring at him in alarm, speechless.

Completely oblivious to what had just happened, he returned our stunned stares with a confused look and asked:

“What?”

Before we could respond, paramedics entered the cockpit. Jerry and I quickly explained what had happened.

The lead paramedic took charge and asked Al how he was feeling.

“Fine!” Al replied.

The paramedic asked him what day it was.

Al thought about it for a moment and said he didn’t know.

Then he asked Al who the President of the United States was.

He forgot.

Finally, the paramedic pointed toward Jerry and asked Al if he knew who he was.

Al had no answer.

The paramedics escorted him from the airplane to the waiting ambulance.

I never saw Al again.

It was completely sobering to watch the career of someone from an iconic South Florida aviation family seemingly go up in smoke right before my eyes.

Jerry and I secured the airplane and walked into the airline’s office.

A few minutes later, Jerry found me.

“You’re free to go,” he said. “They’re going to find another crew.”

I told him I was there, I was ready to go, and I was fine to fly.

Jerry clearly wasn’t expecting that response.

He paused for a moment, looked at me, and said:

“Well, if you can fly, then I can fly!”

And that was that.

The schedulers found us another copilot, and off we went to South America.

After hopscotching through Central and South America, we landed back in Miami around 11:00 that night.

As we were about to part ways, Jerry announced that he was going to get a beer and asked if we wanted to come along.

Our copilot declined.

I accepted.

So Jerry and I took off for an airport dive bar.

A couple of beers later, we started sharing stories about our backgrounds.

Jerry told me that while he was still in college, he had been recruited by the CIA to fly covert missions.

As the night wore on and the hour grew later, he opened up even more, telling me stories about flying the SR-71 “Blackbird” spy plane.

By the time we finally walked out of that bar, I was startled to discover that the sun was shining brightly.

Speaking of the sun shining brightly…

Fall colors are peeking!

One of my most memorable trips flying the Northwest DC-9 was a flight into New Hampshire in October, when the trees were absolutely blazing in reds, oranges, yellows, and seemingly every color in between.

And I’ll never forget flying my Cessna from my home base at Grosse Ile to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula one October and seeing Michigan’s brilliant fall colors from the air for the first time.

Spectacular!

And so it is at the Airpark and at our Irish Hills Biergarten.

Michigan truly is a beautiful state, and this is one of my favorite times of the year to enjoy it.

Take a drive through the countryside, enjoy the changing leaves, and come visit us at Chateau Aeronautique Winery. We look forward to seeing you!

Blue Skies,

Lorenzo