Passenger/Pilot Recovering from Injuries

Gerry Garapich and fellow passenger Bob Powelson are recovering from the injuries they sustained on May 5 during a rough landing at North Las Vegas Airport. Garapich had to take over flying a Twin Commander turboprop after their friend (and the airplane’s pilot) suffered an apparent heart attack (and later died). Garapich, 60, relying on the experience of no more than a few hours of soaring instruction some 25 years ago, took the controls from the right seat and with the assistance of ATC flew the airplane back to the airport. He landed short of the runway, hard enough to shear off the landing gear.