Incapacitated pilot on the mend after passenger lands plane

The 64-year-old pilot of a small plane who became incapacitated, leaving hispassenger with no flying experience to land the Cessna in Florida earlier this month, suffered a tear in his aorta, his surgeon said.

Dr. Nishant Patel, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, said in a news conference Thursday that Kenneth Allen’s recovery from the aortic dissection was remarkable.

“Every step of the way, it was really extraordinary that he was able to get through it,”patel said. “The first thing he said to me the morning after surgery was, ‘When can I go home?’”

Allen was flying two passengers to Florida from the Bahamas on May 10 when he lost consciousness.

Darren Harrison said earlier this week the “hand of God” was with him when he landed the plane after Allen passed out.

Harrison said he was relaxing in the back of the plane after a fishing trip when the pilot told him and another passenger: “Guys, I gotta tell you I don’t feel good.”

“He said, ‘I’ve got a headache and I’m fuzzy and I just don’t feel right,’”harrison said.“and I said, ‘What do we need to do?’ and at that point he didn’t respond at all.”

Harrison of Lakeland landed the plane at Palm Beach International Airport a short time later with assistance from Air Traffic Controller Bobby Morgan.

An ambulance was waiting at the airport. Allen eventually was diagnosed with an aortic dissection and underwent a ninehour procedure to correct it.

“To be able to survive that acute event was really quite remarkable,” Patel said.