Passenger Helps Land 747 After Co-Pilot Falls Ill

A Lufthansa 747 made a smooth landing at Dublin's airport this week, an event made notable because one of the passengers was helping in the cockpit. As the Irish Independent explains, when the co-pilot fell ill with a crushing migraine, the main pilot got permission to divert to Dublin. At that point, one of the passengers on the flight from Newark to Frankfurt came forward to lend a hand—it helped that he is licensed to fly jumbo jets with another airline.

"In such a situation, the pilot could have secured the assistance of one of the cabin crew, but in this case there was a licensed pilot on board," says a Lufthansa spokesman. "This is a viable procedure in such a very rare situation." The plane got a new crew after landing and was back in the air later in the morning. The Good Samaritan has not been identified. (More strange stuff stories.)