Pilot Becomes Ill During Flight; Dies

The Associated Press
Saturday, January 20, 2007; 10:53 PM

McALLEN, Texas -- The pilot of a Continental Airlines flight became ill after takeoff and was later pronounced dead after the plane made an emergency landing Saturday, a company spokeswoman said.

The 210 passengers on the flight, which departed from Houston, were never in danger and the co-pilot landed the plane safely, Continental spokeswoman Macky Osorio said.

The airline said only that the pilot suffered a "serious medical problem." Continental believes the pilot died of natural causes, Osorio said. The pilot's name was not released.

The flight, bound for Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, took off from Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport and was diverted to McAllen-Miller International Airport. The flight continued to Mexico with a new crew, Osorio said.

OMG,
that is not going to help the 60 age rule

The copilot came through and landed the plane.. nobody but the unfortunate captain died.. why does this put age 60 in danger.. this shows that a pilot can die at any age.. and that it is survivable by the passengers.

He was 59 and no it won't help the age 60 change at all. The Captain was receving IOE at the time from a Check Airman who eventually landed the aircraft from the right seat.

I'm not sure how one of our aviation brothers dying in flight managed to turn into another age 65 bicker session. How about... man that sucks is there anything we can do for the family?

Wow! Sorry to hear that...God Bless him and his family through this tough time.

You must be over 50.

Sad story for sure. Just curious. 59 on IOE...did he just change a/c?? Just upgrade??

I believed he had just upgraded to the 757 from the 737. EWR based and an outstanding Gentleman. Will truly be missed by all of us at CAL.

Godspeed Zia.

He was 58 not 59 as I posted earlier.

Very tragic, indeed. Sad news.

It is great to know CAL will transition someone so close to retirement to new equipment. Many airlines won't spend the money.