May Day-May Day--Air Traffic Control Tower
An air traffic control tower suddenly lost communication with a small twin engine aircraft. A moment
later the tower landline rang and was answered by one of the employees.
The passenger riding with the pilot who lost communications was on a cellular phone.
The passenger yelled, “MAYDAY, MAYDAY ! My pilot just had an instant and fatal heart attack. I
grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket as he had told me before we took off that he had the tower on
his speed dial memory.
I am flying upside down at 18,000 feet and travelling at 180 mph. MAYDAY, MAYDAY! !
The employee in the tower immediately put him on speaker phone. "Calm down, we acknowledge you
and we'll guide you down after a few questions.
The first thing is not to panic. Remain calm.”
He then began his series of questions:
Tower: “How do you know you are traveling at 18,000 feet .
Aircraft: "I can see that it reads 18,000 feet on the altimeter dial in front of me."
Tower: "Okay, that’s good, remain calm. How do you know you’re traveling at 180 mph ?"
Aircraft: "I can see that it reads 180 mph on the airspeed dial in front of me."
Tower: "Okay, this is great so far, but it’s heavily overcast. So how do you know you’re flying upside
down ?"
Aircraft: “The shit in my pants is running out of my shirt collar.”