Passenger with no flying experience lands Cessna after pilot fell ill

Passenger lands plane in Florida after pilot falls ill.

A passenger with no flight experience safely landed a single-engine airplane after the pilot suffered a suspected medical emergency and fell “incoherent” at the controls.

During mid-flight, one of the two passengers onboard radioed for help, saying in a very calm voice, “I’ve got a serious situation here. My pilot has gone incoherent. I have no idea how to fly the airplane.” Neither passenger knew the location of the plane.

Air Traffic Controller Robert Morgan, a certified flight instructor, was on a break when the call came in from the plane, headed out from the Bahamas.

“I rush over there and I walk in and the room is really busy … and they’re like, ‘Hey, this pilot’s incapacitated. The passengers are flying the plane. They have no flying experience,” Morgan told CNN’s “New Day” on Wednesday.

During a nearly 10-minute exchange, the air traffic controller guided the passenger, then about 20 miles east of Boca Raton, telling him to hold the wings level, follow the coastline and attempt to slowly descend. Air traffic control at Palm Beach International Airport then took over.

Despite the passenger’s limited knowledge of how to land—let alone fly—a plane, air traffic control was able to verbally assist him in piloting the aircraft.

In typical scenarios, learning how to land a plane can take about 20 hours of flight instruction. This passenger picked up that lesson in mere minutes.

The plane, a single-engine Cessna 208, safely landed around 12:30 p.m. at Palm Beach International Airport, the FAA. said.

Pilots and aviation experts commended the passenger for amazing airmanship.

The FAA is investigating the incident and the condition of the pilot has not been released at this time.