BENTON WEST
Benton West (pictured on the left) talks with passengers of the crippled airliner he had just landed after it was pelted by hail and severe winds. I chose him worthy of hero status not just because of what he had done by landing the jet safely, but because of his true heroism that was evident in an interview I saw on the news. He stated that he was bound and determined to land the jet safely because he loved his wife and wanted to see her again. He also told how it wasn't going to end that way because he'd come too far after being shot down twice in Vietnam (another good reason to be listed as a hero here.) Here's the newspaper article by The Associated Press:
Chattanooga, Tenn. --For an airline pilot, there could be no worse scenario than what Capt. Benton West faced.
While flying through a storm Thursday, (5/8/98)
hail smashed the cockpit window of the
DC-9 and wind ripped off its nose cone.
Passengers and luggage tumbled
about the cabin and the jet suddenly dropped more than 1,000 feet.
West couldn't tell how fast he was flying
and could barely see what lay ahead.
With 86 lives hanging in the balance, air
traffic controllers talked him through his
approach to Lovell Field in
Chattanooga.
``They told him `You're five miles from the runway. You're heading in
so-and-so direction,''' said David Garrett, air traffic manager at Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport.
Controllers were afraid West might overshoot the runway but he
safely landed the AirTran Airlines plane at about 7:30 p.m. No one was seriously injured, though two people were hospitalized.
``I love my wife. I'm going to see her again. It wasn't going to end like this,'' said a shaken West. ``I've been shot down twice in Vietnam, so this _ it wasn't going to end like this.''
Home video aired on WTVC-TV showed one smashed window and the torn nose cone of the jet. There were also dents on the wings.
``It was like a rollercoaster ride,'' Vini Yalamanchili, a passenger from Baton Rouge, La., told the Chattanooga Free Press.
``The whole nose was pointed down at one point,'' said Dave Ferguson, a passenger from Atlanta. ``I thought we were dead.''
Megan Catanese, an AirTran spokeswoman, said there were 81
passengers and five crew members aboard Flight 426.
Passengers on the flight from Atlanta to Chicago boarded another
plane to continue their trip. They broke into applause when it was announced West would be their pilot again.
On 8/6/03, I received this sad news from a visitor to this site:
Just thought that I would let you know that Benton West was killed in a car accident in his hometown last year. He was hauling corn on a very mountainous road when he lost control. He was indeed a hero.
Airliner lands safely despite smashed windshield
