Passenger lands US plane after pilot collapses at controls
A PASSENGER with no flying experience safely landed a light aircraft in Florida after his pilot fell unconscious, in what was described as “nothing short of a miracle”.
The man, who was flying home from the Bahamas to see his pregnant wife, relied on air traffic control to guide the Cessna 208 into Palm Beach International airport.
The control tower received a call from the unnamed passenger at about noon on Tuesday saying: “I’ve got a serious situation here. 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.
Robert Morgan, the air traffic controller, and certified flight instructor, quickly printed out a layout of the cockpit in order to help the passenger navigate the levers and switches.
He told CNN: “I just told him to make shallow turns and slow descents and I brought him into Palm Beach International, because we had the biggest runway around there.
“I just tried to give him a nice stable approach and try to keep him calm.
“He said: ‘I don’t know how to stop this thing if I do get it on the runway’ so I said don’t worry about it, we’ll take it like one step at a time.
“He stayed really calm and I just kind of talked him through everything.
“I said: ‘When you get in closer to the runway, it’s gonna get bigger.
“And that’s when you want to start really reducing your power. And the plane just landed and he said, ‘Okay, how do I stop this thing?’”
The incredible exchange was heard by other pilots in the area. Justin Dalmolin, a Jetblue pilot, was told to delay his take-off as the Cessna Caravan landed.
“The level of difficulty that this person had to deal with in terms of having zero flight time to fly and land a single engine turbine aircraft is absolutely incredible,” he told ABC 25.
“You know it’s nothing short of a miracle and I’m really glad for them and their families that they had such a great outcome,” he added.
The plane can carry 14 passengers and intense pilot training usually takes months. Once on the ground the unconscious pilot was taken to hospital. The nature of his medical emergency was not immediately released.
The passenger still had to clear customs but was greeted by staff from the control tower shortly afterwards
“He just sent me a big hug,” said Mr Morgan. “He said ‘thank you so much’ and I said, ‘Man, I’m just glad that you’re okay.’ It was an emotional moment.
“He said that he just wanted to get home to his pregnant wife, and I felt even better because I knew he’s got a family and everybody is counting on him to be there.”
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident.