On March 5, 1980 Trans American flight 209 from Los Angeles made a miraculous landing in Chicago after the pilot Captain Clarence Ovuer and First Officer Roger Murdock suffered incapacitation due to food poisoning during the flight.
One of the flight attendants, Elaine Dickinson, managed to activate the aircraft’s auto pilot while a passenger on the flight, Ted Stryker, took the controls. Stryker had been a military fighter pilot flying attack missions over Macho Grande.
Though he’d never flown a commercial aircraft, Ted Stryker was ably assisted from the ground by air traffic controller Steve McCroskey and by Stryker’s former military commanding officer Rex Kramer.
- Stryker was in no condition to fly that plane. He’d been drinking to excess. He was depressed, and openly sharing his stories with a series of passengers – none of whom, fortunately, spoke up when the time came to put him in control of that plane.
- Just that week McCroskey had quit drinking, smoking, doing amphetamines and sniffing glue. Kramer’s advice landing the aircraft is timeless: “flying a plane is no different than riding a bicycle, just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes.”
Here’s a re-enactment of the miracle landing based on the cockpit voice recorder and contemporaneous notes and interviews:
Every one of the passengers and crew on board Trans American flight 209 made it down safely. Each of us has been affected by this story and we should take a moment to honor the achievements of everyone involved. That’s the day we all learned not to eat the fish. Unfortunately some documentaries of the incident have had scenes deleted where lessons may have been lost..
Sadly, Ted Stryker was later declared mentally incompetent and institutionalized. He claimed the legal action taken against him was meant to silence him from blowing the whistle on unsafe practices in the development of commercial space travel. Fortunately he found himself in the position of saving another flight.
Gary,
Seriously, you best post in years.
Captain Oveur made a full recovery and went on to captain the first civilian lunar flight.
What ultimately happened to First Officer Murdock and Engineer Victor Basta?
Shirley, you cannot be serious!
Brilliantly written. Truly Laughed Out Loud. Thank you!
This was great Gary, thanks for a morning laugh before I go to work.
Love it. Thanks!
@phoenix, Stop calling me Shirley.
Love this Gary!
How is March 5 the anniversary? Movie came out in June 1980?
This is a totally different kind of blogging…altogether!
A number of years ago I was boarding a Delta JFK-LAX flight directly behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. When we stepped onto the plane, he turned left and I turned right. Before heading back to my seat, I turned to the flight attendant and said, “Please, don’t serve him the fish.” Got a quick smile and knowing wink.
It’s a big white building with patients… but that’s not important now.
@Ryan – the date of the actual flight is attributed as march 5
Gary, have you ever seen a grown man naked?
Brilliant thanks for the laugh!
I’m deflating, I need pumping up!
This is the kind of quality content I come here for.
Thank you, that was great!!
Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?
We have clearance, Clarence.
Roger, Roger. What’s our vector, Victor?
Best post EVER!!!
Landing the plane safely was made easier by the fact that the flight was equipped with what appeared to be jet engines but which were actually conventional propellers.
Great post, Gary!
Kind of sluggish. Like a wet sponge! Great post Gary – had me laughing from the start.
Ah yes…I had the lasagna.
Do you also speak Jive?
Worst part of this post is that it was 40 years ago. Damn, I can’t be that old?
Do you like to watch gladiator movies? Classic post, Gary.
@DougSwalen: This is a totally different kind of blogging…
@Doug Swalen: This is a totally different kind of blogging.
I think the movie Airplane! should always be available on every aircraft video-on-demand entertainment system.
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue!