Man lands airplane via text messages

A small airplane in Ireland suddenly found itself in a dilly of a pickle of a jam when it "lost all onboard electrical power, communications and weather radar soon after take-off from Kerry airport," according to The Irish Times.

The twin-engine Piper contained a pilot and four passengers. The pilot was unable to make contact with the nearest air traffic control tower, so he tried his cell phone. He was able to contact the air traffic control tower in nearby Cork, but he eventually lost contact.

The pilot turned to text messaging instead, telling the tower that he was planning to land at the Cork airport. The air traffic controller sent text messages back and forth with the pilot, guiding him towards the airport safely. The landing gear had to be lowered by hand and the plane was able to fly in front of the control tower to confirm that the landing gear had been lowered successfully.

The 30-year old plane eventually landed and everyone onboard was safe. Unfortunately, the amount of text messages sent by the pilot ended up costing far more than the airplane was worth, so it would have been cheaper for the pilot and the four passengers to jump out of the plane wearing parachutes.

I kid. But seriously, those text messages are expensive. I would have called my mobile provider first and added unlimited texting. Just saying.

[via Slashdot]