Passenger Lands Plane at North Las Vegas Airport After Pilot Dies
NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) -- A passenger was forced to land a private plane Thursday after the pilot became seriously ill and died.
The pilot and the two passengers were taken to University Medical Center in Las Vegas after the 9:14 a.m. crash at North Las Vegas Airport, said Donn Walker, regional spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
The plane was registered to Douglas R. Reichardt of Henderson, who was piloting the twin-engine Gulfstream I turboprop.
A hospital official didn't know whether Reichardt died in the air or later at the hospital.
The two passengers did not appear to be seriously hurt, authorities said. Their names were not made public.
The pilot had filed a flight plan to San Diego before the plane took off from North Las Vegas at 8:30 a.m., Walker said.
But the plane returned to North Las Vegas shortly after Reichardt reportedly suffered a heart attack, crashing on its belly several hundred feet short of a runway at North Las Vegas Airport.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.
Reichardt had a valid multiengine airline transport pilot's license, according to FAA records.
