Frankly, I'm surprised that we don't see such events happen a bit more often.

The captain of a Continental Airlines trans-Atlantic flight has died en route.

The Houston-based carrier said the captain of Flight 61 apparently died of natural causes, but that the crew included a relief pilot who joined the co-pilot at the controls.

Continental has notified the family of the 61-year-old captain, who was based in Newark, N.J. The Boeing 777, which was carrying 247 passengers, landed safely late this morning.

Roland Herwig of the Federal Aviation Administration said a doctor on board pronounced the pilot dead. He didn't have a time of death but said he was told the pilot died "several hours" into the flight.

The National Transportation Safety Board has been notified, Herwig said.

"It's up to them as to how they will be involved in this," he said. "I don't think this will be classified as an accident. It will likely be classified as an 'incident,' but that is preliminary."

The reality is that heart attacks, strokes and other fatal incidents happen suddenly, even to men and women in the best of health. My guess is that this pilot will even have had a recent physical -- probably one where he was told "You are in great shape, but you need to work on your blood pressure and cholesterol levels." I saw that happen not too long ago with a former colleague of mine who dropped dead in the middle of a teacher in-service training. It is a reality that we all face as we hit middle age and move beyond it -- life is a terminal condition.

Of course, this is a sad story, and a personal tragedy for the family and friends of the deceased pilot. May God grant them comfort in their time of grief.