NEW 2020 EDITION Pilot dies in flight. **DISCLAIMER** The Hero passenger who lands the King Air Turbo Prop and saves his family had earned a Private Pilot's License 18 years prior to this incident. He quit flying shortly after with only 80 hours total time logged. On this "Commercial Charter" flight Doug White is flying home after attending his brother's funeral with his wife and daughters on board. The Charter Pilot dies suddenly within minutes after takeoff. Doug is forced to take control of the complex high performance turboprop aircraft with zero experience in a King Air and with zero notice. Dead pilot slumped over the controls and distraught family in the passenger cabin. If you are in anyway offended by these circumstances please do not watch this video. **END OF DISCLAIMER** . Previously released in 2015, this new edition includes new content, behind scenes information, interviews with air traffic controllers, super-titles of ATC communications, and more.
On Easter Sunday, April 12th, 2009, Doug White and his family chartered a Beech King Air B200 N559DW for a flight from Marco Island, Florida bound for Louisiana with 5 souls on board. Soon after takeoff, the pilot, 67 year old retired Air Force Colonel Joe Cabuk loses consciousness. creating an emergency situation that required extraordinary measures by the planes passengers and Air Traffic Controllers. This video is a recreation of that flight and is intended to honor and pay tribute to the pilots and air traffic controllers.
I have used actual published radar tracks and numerous published interviews and news reports to determine as close as possible the flight path, altitudes, headings, and other pertinent details of this flight. Due to a relatively erratic flight path following the emergency, some airspeeds, altitudes, and headings, may vary slightly from the actual flight. The actual ATC recording of the communications with the King Air are included in their entirety.
KZfaq Audio Library Music: "Under Cover" by Wayne Jones. "Progressive Moments" by Ugonna Onyekwe.
The King Air used for this flight is by Carenado. The Fort Myers Scenery is by LatinVFR. Please refer to the "About" tab on our home channel page for more information on hardware and software specs.