Passenger lands plane

– A passenger without flying experience landed a small plane at a Florida airport after the pilot was rendered “incoherent” by a medical emergency, US media reported.

The unwitting pilot, the only passenger on the single-engine Cessna 208, relied on air traffic control to guide his landing at Palm Beach International Airport, 110km north of Miami, NBC reported.

Officials at Fort Pierce, north of Palm Beach, received an emergency call from the passenger, saying, “I’ve got a serious situation here,” NBC reported.

“My pilot has gone incoherent. I have no idea how to fly the airplane.”

Asked for his position he said, “I have no idea” but that he could see the Florida coastline.

“Maintain wings level and just try to follow the coast, either north or southbound,” the air traffic official told him. “We’re trying to locate you.”

Air traffic controller Robert Morgan said his experience as a flight instructor helped him guide the passenger, whose name has not been released, as he landed the plane. “He was very calm.” –