And I Thought I Had Problems on Continental Airlines

During my recent trip to Texas I had more than my share of problems on Continental Airlines and the Houston airport (as documented here), but it pales in comparison to this:

MCALLEN, Texas - The pilot of a Continental Airlines flight became ill after takeoff and was later pronounced dead after the plane made an emergency landing Saturday, a company spokeswoman said.

The 210 passengers on the flight, which departed from Houston, were never in danger and the co-pilot landed the plane safely, Continental spokeswoman Macky Osorio said.

The airline said only that the pilot suffered a "serious medical problem." Continental believes the pilot died of natural causes, Osorio said. The pilot's name was not released.

The flight, bound for Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, took off from Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport and was diverted to McAllen-Miller International Airport. The flight continued to Mexico with a new crew, Osorio said.

That's why you have two qualified pilots on those planes - not because the aircraft requires two to function, but because in case of something like this you'll only have one dead guy and not over 200.

This whole thing really makes my flight problems look pretty trivial.