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Super Bowl Sunday Stirs Memories for Texas Pilot and Center Controllers

A Cessna Cardinal similar to Dr. Edenhoffer’s aircraft. Wikimedia Commons
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • Pilot Peter Edenhoffer experienced a complete electrical failure in his Cessna during an instrument approach, losing all communication and onboard navigation.
  • Fort Worth Center controllers, after exhausting traditional communication methods, ingeniously contacted the pilot via text message on his cell phone.
  • Combining the pilot's resourcefulness (using his phone's intermittent GPS) with ATC text guidance, Edenhoffer was safely directed to an alternate airport and performed a successful emergency landing.
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Peter Edenhoffer doesn’t remember which teams were playing in last year’s Super Bowl. A year later, Sunday, February 5, 2017, is still pretty much a blur, because that Super Bowl Sunday was the night Edenhoffer was flying his Cessna Cardinal alone back to his home airport, Cox Field near Paris Texas (PRX) from San Antonio when he experienced a harrowing event.

Rob Mark

Rob Mark is an award-winning journalist, business jet pilot, flight instructor, and blogger.

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