Pilot lands plane using IPAD after inflight navigation system fails
- The navigation system on Raymond Cody's single-engine plane failed not long after take-off on Tuesday morning
- He was able to use his cellphone to speak to a TSA agent at the airport and an app on his iPad to track his flight path
A pilot was forced to land his plane using an iPad app and his cell phone to help guide him to an airport after his navigation system malfunctioned on Tuesday.
Raymond Cody was flying a single-engine plane across western Colorado to Grand Junction Regional Airport when the instrument panel in his cockpit stopped working not long after take-off.
While his engine continued to work normally, the pilot quickly realized he would have no way of notifying airport officials as he approached his destination.
Raymong Cody, right, has described TSA agent Gene Manzanares, left, as his hero after he helped him to land his plane which had suffered a malfunction of the navigation system
Cody used his cell phone to call the airport and at 8:01 a.m. spoke to Gene Manzanares, the Transportation Security Administration's master coordination center officer for the airport.
‘The airplane motor wasn't an issue of stopping, it was only the electronics in the airplane. So I had no radio, I had no navigation equipment,’ Cody told KREXTV.
Using an iPad app, Cody was able to track his flight path and relay his position to Manzanares, who helped coordinate the landing with the airport's control tower.
'I was the one talking to him directly and the one talking to the tower and to the airport fire and rescue through our radios, so I was doing all three,' said Manzanares.
Using an iPad app, Cody was able to track his flight path and relay his position to Manzanares, who helped coordinate the landing with the airport's control tower
The pair spoke for nearly half an hour until Cody was able to land his plane safely.
It was only the next day that they met in person so Cody could thank the man who helped him out of a very tricky position.
‘Gene's my hero,’ said Cody. ‘He was real calm, kept me calm, and I do appreciate it.’
The use of iPads for pilots with a charter company was approved by the Federal Aviation Administration in February 2011.
Pilots are typically required to carry a bag of paper charts and manuals on board, but the FAA's decision had the potential to change that.
After the charter company's successful test period, the FAA extended the iPad option, allowing FAA-authorized operators to use the tablet as an alternative to the paper charts.
Most recently, American Airline pilots were granted permission to dump their heavy bags of paper maps and charts for iPads.
The Federal Aviation Administration approved the use of iPads for the pilots with a charter company in February 2011
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