Putting them to Work

In Florida in 2000, the pilot of a Piper Cherokee Six, carrying Henry George Anhalt and his family, collapsed at the controls. Anhalt, who had no aviation training, had to learn to fly – and on the spot.

Anhalt, his wife and their three sons were on a private flight home from a religious mission in the Bahamas when their pilot, Kristopher Pearce, 36, collapsed. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

To make matters worse, the aircraft was running out of fuel.

When I tried to switch it over to the other tank, it would start sputtering and sputtering so I would change it back to the empty one,” he said to the American Broadcasting Commission.

Ten minutes out of Florida’s Winter Haven airport and 1000 feet in the air, Anhalt did just about the only thing he could: radio for help.

As luck would have it, a flight instructor was flying nearby.

Part-time flight instructor Dan McCullough spent the next half an hour teaching Anhalt how to land the aircraft.

While the Piper Cherokee Six is a relatively high-performance aircraft that requires advanced training to fly, McCullough says talking him down was no problem.

“The only real disadvantage I had over any other time I’ve done it is I couldn’t actually be in the airplane with him,” he said. Anhalt, he added, did not seem