Two hundred and twenty-five passengers were onboard the American Airlines flight from San Francisco to Chicago's O'Hare Airport Monday when the copilot became ill. Flight attendant Patti DeLuna, who has an inactive commercial pilot's license, came forward after someone checked the passenger list and realized there were no other pilots on board.
DeLuna then took a seat in the cockpit and became the first officer as the plane landed.
"I wasn't really nervous. I suppose on some level the entire crew was a little nervous because it wasn't a standard, standard procedure but we just all worked together and it all came out right," said DeLuna.
DeLuna had not used her cockpit training for 20 years. She called it all "great fun."
The copilot is going to be OK. He had a case of stomach flu.
