Guy Eby (November 9, 1918 – July 30, 2021) was an American airline captain who kept the commercial airplane he was flying (American Airlines Flight 182) from colliding with another one (TWA Flight 37) on November 26, 1975, following a mistake from an air traffic controller in Cleveland, Ohio.[1]
Eby quickly lowered his plane's altitude at 35,000 feet (11,000 m) amidst a significant cloud cover, an action which ultimately saved the lives of his passengers and the flight crew. All 10 flight attendants plus 14 passengers suffered injuries on the American Airlines plane (the incident occurred while dinner was being served), and it was forced to make an emergency landing in Detroit.[5][6] At the time, Eby had already logged flight time of nearly 22,000 hours. Had the collision not been avoided, it would have been the greatest aviation disaster in the history of United States up to that time.[7]
The TWA plane involved in the incident was later destroyed by a fire on July 30, 1992, while flying as TWA Flight 843.[8]
Later life
Eby retired from American Airlines in 1978. Eby turned 100 on November 9, 2018, in Ormond Beach, Florida, where he had resided since 1983.[9] One of the passengers in the American Airlines Flight 182, Burt Herman (who was flying with his wife Elaine, his twin daughters Laura and Leslie and son Larry at that time), wrote and published a book about Eby and the incident, called Eby: Master of the Moment in 2018.[10] He died in Ormond Beach on July 30, 2021, at the age of 102.[11]