Breaking: Continental pilot dies during flight.

I know this was mentioned on the lost children thread, but ... according to HLN. Other pilots took over and Flight 61 landed at Newark.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/06/18/pilot.dead/index.html

edit to add link

 

Holy fuck.

 

"This is your captain, not speaking."

 

Did he have the chicken or the fish?

(The plane landed safely, but still I ask: Is it too soon for an Airplane! reference?)

But in all my ghoulish seriousness, I wonder, what on Earth do you do with a pilot's dead body in a cockpit? Did they leave it slumped over in the chair? Certainly they didn't drag it down the aisle like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, lest they freak out the passengers.

--

EDIT to add dropped word "aisle."

 

Wow.

A plane in 1980 had all of its pilots and navigators collapse due to food poisoning. At least there was a passenger on board who knew how to fly a plane.

 

It probably would depend on when he died. They'd probably put him in one of the first-class lavs, which are right next to the cockpit.

 

Inflate the autopilot...

 

I laughed out loud at that. Hell, here I come.

 

Could have been worse. A pilot could have asked one of the lost 8-year-olds if they wanted to look at the blue water.

 

"Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit dying."

 

A 777 has a crew rest area. One article I read said they placed him there.