Reports: American Airlines officer dies during landing at Albuquerque
Channel: TIL
Date: 2017-03-30

An American Airlines first officer died in flight Wednesday en route to Albuquerque, airport officials confirmed.

© Provided by USA Today
A spokeswoman for American said in a telephone interview that the airline offers its deepest condolences to family and friends of the pilot, who was based in the Dallas area.

"American airlines is deeply saddened by the death of first officer William “Mike” Grubbs," spokeswoman Polly Tracey said. "We are taking care of first officer Grubbs' family and colleagues and our thoughts and prayers are with them during this difficult time.”

At about 3:30 p.m., the control tower at Albuquerque International Sunport received a call from Flight 1353 arriving from Dallas - Fort Worth, airport public relations manager Daniel Jiron told USA TODAY.

"Literally just minutes before they landed the tower received an emergency call form the plane saying they had a medical emergency," Jiron said of the Boeing 737-800. "It did land without incident."

The plane landed safely and medical rescue met the plane, Jiron said.

According to the FlightAware flight tracking website, the flight left Dallas - Fort Worth at 2:51 p.m., four minutes early, and arrived 12 minutes early at 3:37 p.m.