Guy Eby (November 9, 1918 – July 30, 2021) was an American

airline captain The pilot in command (PIC) of an aircraft is the person aboard the aircraft who is ultimately responsible for its operation and safety during flight. This would be the captain in a typical two- or three-pilot aircrew, or "pilot" if there is only ...

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 Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, Ohio.

Early life

Eby was born on November 9, 1918, in

Ephrata, Pennsylvania Ephrata ( ; Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Effridaa'') is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located east of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Harrisburg and about west-northwest ...

. He received the

Air Medal The Air Medal (AM) is a military decoration of the United States Armed Forces. It was created in 1942 and is awarded for single acts of heroism or meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight. Criteria The Air Medal was establish ...

in 1946 for his services for

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

(1938–1950) against Japan in 1945 towards the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He flew in the

Berlin Blockade The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road ...

. He joined American Airlines in 1950.

1975 flight incident

The two planes, combinedly carrying 319 passengers and crew members (192 passengers and 13 crew members on board American Airlines Flight 182 while 103 passengers and 11 crew members on board TWA Flight 37), were reportedly just 30 metres away from each other as they flew over the city of

Carleton, Michigan Carleton is a village in Monroe County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,326 at the 2020 census. The village is located within Ash Township. History The community was first platted in 1872 by Daniel Matthews, who also worked p ...

. Eby's plane (an

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long-range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 1971, ...

flying that day as Flight 182) was headed towards

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.TWA Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with ...

Lockheed L-1011 TriStar The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, also known as the L-1011 (pronounced "El-ten-eleven") and TriStar, is an American medium-to-long-range, wide-body trijet airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation. It was the third wide-body airliner to enter comme ...

flying that day as Flight 37) was heading from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Pennsylvania to Los Angeles, California. Eby quickly lowered his plane's altitude at 35,000 ft amidst a significant cloud cover, an action which ultimately saved the lives of his passengers and the flight crew. All 10 flight attendants and 14 passengers did suffer injuries on the American Airlines plane while serving dinner, and it was forced to make an emergency landing in Detroit. At the time, he 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. The

Trans World Airlines Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with F ...

plane involved in this incident was later destroyed by a fire on July 30, 1992, while flying as

TWA Flight 843 TWA Flight 843 (TW843, TWA843) was a scheduled Trans World Airlines passenger flight that crashed after an aborted takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport (New York) to San Francisco International Airport (California) in July 1992. D ...

Later life

Eby retired from American Airlines in 1978. Eby turned 100 on November 9, 2018, in

Ormond Beach, Florida Ormond Beach is a city in central Florida in Volusia County. The population was 43,080 at the 2020 census. Ormond Beach lies directly north of Daytona Beach and is a principal city of the Deltona–Daytona Beach–Ormond Beach, FL Metropolitan ...

, where he had resided since 1983. 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. He died in Ormond Beach on July 30, 2021, at the age of 102.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eby, Guy 1918 births 2021 deaths American centenarians Aviators from Pennsylvania Commercial aviators Men centenarians People from Ephrata, Pennsylvania Recipients of the Air Medal United States Navy personnel of World War II