A passenger with no air flight experience successfully landed a small private plane at a Florida airport on Tuesday after the pilot became unwell, according to US media.
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“I have a serious problem,” the man who was in a Cessna 208 Caravan plane told air traffic control authorities, according to a radio recording transcribed by the local channel WPBF.
“My driver is inconsistent. I don’t know how to fly the plane at all.”
The passenger, who admitted having “no idea” of the geographical location of the aircraft in the sky, was then guided by the controllers, who recommended that he “keep the wings horizontal and try to follow the side”.
The latter finally managed to locate the apprentice pilot, and their colleagues at the Palm Beach airport then helped him land there.
One of the controllers informed the other planes in the area, in a radio call, of this very special landing.
“Oh my God. Very good job,” replied one of the listening pilots.
“I tried to keep him calm. He was really calm, he was just saying ‘listen, I just don’t know how to fly, I don’t know how to stop this thing if I can get it on the runway,'” said Robert Morgan, one of the controllers of the air traffic that supported the passenger, on CNN on Wednesday.
Mr. Morgan credits his experience as a flight instructor with helping him deal with this situation. Throughout the landing procedure, he was in contact with the passenger, giving him a real accelerated pilot lesson, explaining how to approach the arrival on the runway, or even how to use the brakes.
Once the plane landed, “I felt like I was going to cry, there was so much adrenaline,” said Robert Morgan.
He was then able to meet the passenger, who “took him in his arms” and explained to him that “he just wanted to go home to find his pregnant wife,” said the controller.
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