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Pilot Dies Mid-Flight
What if you were a passenger? ... Share what your thoughts might be.
MACEDONIA, Ohio -
Returning home to Macedonia from a business trip to Milan, Dan Kickel says he was four hours into their international flight from Brussels when the flight crew asked if there was a doctor on board.
"It wasn't like a casual announcement it was a clearly there was concern in the voice of the person making the announcement," he told Fox 8 News.
"The flight attendants they just seemed to be acting very normal and i just came to conclude that probably what happened there was somebody in the first class cabin that had a heart attack or something like that"
Kickel says even when the doctors returned to their seats there was never any indication that their pilot, identified by his family as 60 year old Craig Lenell had died. He describes the remaining four hours of the flight as uneventful.
"We were kind of in no-man's land at that point, but were were probably a couple of hours from Iceland, so i thought maybe we would turn around and go back, but obviously thats not what happened obviously it was more severe than that and there was nothing they could do."
"The people from continental just handled this so smoothly, they never alarmed anybody, obviously it was emotional to many of them I'm sure, but they just went about their normal business to get the plane back into work."
Because it was an international flight the crew included a third pilot, on board in the event the captain or the first officer became fatigued during more than eight hours in flight. The third pilot on board apparently helped take over the controls.
The plane made a normal landing in Newark New Jersey where rescue crews were standing by as it made its approach.
Associated press reports quote doctors on board the flight as having realized immediately that there was nothing they could do for Lenell who had apparently suffered a massive heart attack.
"We really didnt have any sense anything was seriously wrong until i was literally off the plane and there were a line of new jersey troopers, there were probably ten or twelve of them in the jetway" says Kickel, who tells Fox 8 news the story was already airing on television screens in the airport as they made their way to customs.
It was at Customs that he first got confirmation that their pilot had died during the flight. Kickel admires the flight crew for the way they handled the event, saying in his mind they did exactly the right thing.
"As i look back on this obviously the thing that i feel worst about is how sad it is, heres a 60 year old guy whose my age who unfortunately goes to work one day and dies,,,but the way his company and the way his crew carried on because there was still a job to do was overwhelming to me.
"It wasn't like a casual announcement it was a clearly there was concern in the voice of the person making the announcement," he told Fox 8 News.
"The flight attendants they just seemed to be acting very normal and i just came to conclude that probably what happened there was somebody in the first class cabin that had a heart attack or something like that"
Kickel says even when the doctors returned to their seats there was never any indication that their pilot, identified by his family as 60 year old Craig Lenell had died. He describes the remaining four hours of the flight as uneventful.
"We were kind of in no-man's land at that point, but were were probably a couple of hours from Iceland, so i thought maybe we would turn around and go back, but obviously thats not what happened obviously it was more severe than that and there was nothing they could do."
"The people from continental just handled this so smoothly, they never alarmed anybody, obviously it was emotional to many of them I'm sure, but they just went about their normal business to get the plane back into work."
Because it was an international flight the crew included a third pilot, on board in the event the captain or the first officer became fatigued during more than eight hours in flight. The third pilot on board apparently helped take over the controls.
The plane made a normal landing in Newark New Jersey where rescue crews were standing by as it made its approach.
Associated press reports quote doctors on board the flight as having realized immediately that there was nothing they could do for Lenell who had apparently suffered a massive heart attack.
"We really didnt have any sense anything was seriously wrong until i was literally off the plane and there were a line of new jersey troopers, there were probably ten or twelve of them in the jetway" says Kickel, who tells Fox 8 news the story was already airing on television screens in the airport as they made their way to customs.
It was at Customs that he first got confirmation that their pilot had died during the flight. Kickel admires the flight crew for the way they handled the event, saying in his mind they did exactly the right thing.
"As i look back on this obviously the thing that i feel worst about is how sad it is, heres a 60 year old guy whose my age who unfortunately goes to work one day and dies,,,but the way his company and the way his crew carried on because there was still a job to do was overwhelming to me.
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