The "Scooter" or "Bantam Bomber," as the A-4 was nicknamed, was equipped with analog controls that left the pilot in command of the attack plane's every twitch as he guided it down for what remains probably the toughest trick in flying: landing a jet airplane on the tiny deck of an aircraft carrier bobbing about in the ocean, scores of miles from land.
And things are set to get worse this year, as there have been 148 reports of these cases so far, including a laser attack on a WestJet flight landing at Toronto Pearson airport last March that left the pilot with a "headache, blurred vision, and dry eyes".
As air traffic managers tried to figure out why the tower was not responding, a regional controller left the pilots of the incoming flights with the erroneous impression that they could land using rules for airports with unmanned towers, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a report Tuesday.
But government investigators said the flight would probably have been completed without incident if not for a maintenance error two days before, which they said they believed left the pilots unable to get full motion out of the mechanism that raises the tail and lowers the nose.
A helicopter carrying Russian members of Parliament out of Chechnya came under fire after crossing into the neighboring territory of Ingushetia, leaving the pilot dead.
9 P.M. (Animal Planet) WHALE WARS The Sea Shepherds bring the first leg of their anti-whaling campaign to a close, leaving the pilot Chris Aultman on the brink of physical and mental exhaustion.
Missions are planned down to the second, and shortly after an F-117 is aloft, a computer flies the plane according to a detailed flight plan, leaving the pilot to concentrate on attacking the target.
Once a patient is in the helicopter, the paramedics' attention turns to treatment and care, leaving the pilot to find his own way to their destination – every hospital in the country has a dedicated landing site for an air ambulance.
A1 East River Helicopter Crash A sightseeing helicopter lifting off from a Lower Manhattan pier plunged nose first into the East River, leaving the pilot and its six passengers bobbing in the swift-moving water and clinging to the craft until police boats could reach them.
After three hours of pleasant paddling, the river leaves the pilot channel and spreads out, growing warm, shallow, and brushy.
Federal investigators are looking into how a small plane ended upside-down on a Ranchos Palos Verdes beach Friday, leaving the pilot with minor injuries, officials said.
