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Vacationing Air Force bomber pilot helped land Boeing 737 after pilot had a heart attack
Daily Mail UK ^ | June 2, 2014 | James Nye

Posted on 06/02/2014 5:08:42 PM PDT by ConservativeStatement

United Flight 1637 was returning off-duty Air Force Captain Mike Gongol, his family and 157 other souls from their Christmas vacation when disaster struck.

The Boeing 737's pilot suffered a devastating heart attack at 30,000 feet on the way from Des Moines to Denver, forcing Gongol to rush to the cockpit and help guide the plane to an emergency landing.

His heroic actions have gone unheralded until now, as Gongol recalls the dramatic moment he answered the chilling announcement on the December 30 flight, 'Does anyone know how to fly a plane?'

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: airforce; airplane; aviation; b737; boeing; gongol; pilots; rescue; ual; veterans
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To: JRandomFreeper

RE: Fix Bayonets

Or belong to Lewis Millet’S Company E 2nd Battalion 27th regiment

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Millett

Regards

alfa6 ;>}


21 posted on 06/02/2014 5:49:03 PM PDT by alfa6
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To: Regulator

There’s also pilots deadheading to an airport to pick up their flight. But yeah, needed that second person on the deck to help out.


22 posted on 06/02/2014 5:51:46 PM PDT by SkyDancer (If you don't read the newspapers you are uninformed. If you do read newspapers you are misinformed)
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To: alfa6
Or May 14, 2004 in Iraq. SGT MAJ Dave Falconer, gave that order to 'fix bayonets'. Brits still gots some testicular fortitude.

/johnny

23 posted on 06/02/2014 5:55:09 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: JRandomFreeper

How many people even have bayonets these days?

(I’ve got three).


24 posted on 06/02/2014 5:56:27 PM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: ConservativeStatement
“It was then that the first officer turned to Gongol and revealed she had never landed at Omaha airport before.”

If this is a problem, then that F.O. doesn't need to be in that job any more.
It's an airport.
It has a runway or three.
Land the friggin' airplane! It doesn't have to be pretty - you can break it if you really have to - but land the plane!

25 posted on 06/02/2014 5:57:55 PM PDT by grobdriver (Where is Wilson Blair when you need him?)
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To: JRandomFreeper

Thanks I will have to look that up later

Regards

alfa6 ;>}


26 posted on 06/02/2014 5:58:00 PM PDT by alfa6
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To: SkyDancer

What I thought was funny was the notion that the FO needed the Bomber Pilot to “talk her through the landing” at Omaha.

Um...right. Like she couldn’t just read the chart.


27 posted on 06/02/2014 5:58:38 PM PDT by Regulator
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To: DuncanWaring
I've got one.

But I have a crapload of kitchen knives and a bunch of duct tape.

Never piss off a cook.

/johnny

28 posted on 06/02/2014 5:58:51 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: grobdriver

It’s just the reporters. They literally have no clue.


29 posted on 06/02/2014 6:00:04 PM PDT by Regulator
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To: ConservativeStatement

Fact omitted from the story: when first arriving in the cockpit, Capt. Gongol’s first words were “Where are the other two throttles?”.


30 posted on 06/02/2014 6:00:21 PM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: ConservativeStatement

Whoa!


31 posted on 06/02/2014 6:01:16 PM PDT by onyx (Please Support Free Republic - Donate Monthly! If you want on Sarah Palin's Ping List, Let Me know!)
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To: Regulator
Stress of the pilot going Tango Uniform in the seat, unfamiliar airport, probably low hours in type.

Yep. It might be a good idea to have someone calm to read the frigging chart for her, and plug in all the frequencies.

/johnny

32 posted on 06/02/2014 6:02:31 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: JRandomFreeper

And your knives are probably sharper than my bayonets.


33 posted on 06/02/2014 6:03:23 PM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: ConservativeStatement
“It was then that the first officer turned to Gongol and revealed she had never landed at Omaha airport before.”

Neither Bob Pearson nor Maurice Qintal had ever landed where they landed on July 23, 1983.

It was a dead-stick landing, necessitated by "fuel exhaustion due to maintenance error". The "airport" was a closed Canadian airbase that Quintal remembered from his days in the service. Part of it had been converted into a drag strip.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider

34 posted on 06/02/2014 6:07:17 PM PDT by cynwoody
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To: ConservativeStatement

Last Friday, Southwest Flight Attendant: “Fasten your seatbelts, the pilot mentioned he wants to try something new today.”


35 posted on 06/02/2014 6:17:24 PM PDT by Theophilus (Be as prolific as you are pro-life.)
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To: cynwoody

I had forgotten aboot that exciting dead stick landing!


36 posted on 06/02/2014 6:18:28 PM PDT by publius911 ( Politicians come and go... but the (union) bureaucracy lives and grows forever.)
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Comment #37 Removed by Moderator

To: JRandomFreeper

Air Medal maybe. More likely, what promises to be the fastest, easiest pilot interview United will ever give.


38 posted on 06/02/2014 6:24:18 PM PDT by USNBandit (sarcasm engaged at all times)
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To: USNBandit
Air Medal would work.

At the rank of O-4 (Captain, USAF), one has to wonder whether he hadn't read the -1 on most of the commercial fleet, in anticipation of not seeking O-5 (Major).

Discussing anything involving other service rank with Navy is dang awkward. Just had to say that.

/johnny

39 posted on 06/02/2014 6:31:33 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: JRandomFreeper
Capt O-3 (USAF), Maj O-4.

I know better. I'm out for the night. Be back when I'm not fighting an infection.

/johnny

40 posted on 06/02/2014 6:40:24 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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