GA In The News — Good, Bad, And Ugly…

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Key Takeaways:

  • A woman with limited flying experience, Jennifer Truman, safely landed a Piper Malibu in Laconia, N.H., after her pilot father became incapacitated.
  • She was guided by an air traffic controller over the radio, resulting in a "decent, a little bumpy" landing with no damage to the aircraft.
  • Her mother, also a passenger, had also passed out, with carbon monoxide poisoning in the cabin suspected as the cause for both parents' incapacitation.
  • The parents, William and Diana Truman, were hospitalized, though their condition was not reported at the time of the article.
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Neophyte Safely Lands Airplane…

A woman who had taken only a few flying lessons was able to safely land a Piper Malibu in Laconia, N.H., on Monday after the pilot, her father, became incapacitated. Jennifer Truman, 30, brought the plane back safely, talked down over the radio by an air traffic controller. “It was a fairly decent landing, a little bumpy,” Gilford Fire Lt. Michael Balcom told the Concord Monitor. “She came in and cut the engine right away. There wasn’t any damage to the plane.” The pilot’s wife, in the back seat, had also passed out. Early reports said carbon monoxide in the cabin was suspected. (Just because it’s summer, that doesn’t mean you’re safe.) The flight had left Laconia only a short time before. The parents, William and Diana Truman, both in their 60s, were taken to a hospital and their condition was not reported at our deadline.

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