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.
Air traffic controllers instructed the man over the radio as he guided the private Cessna Caravan onto the runway at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida.
The passenger, the only other person on board, had no experience whatsoever flying a plane until the harrowing landing.
In audio shared by air traffic control streaming website LiveATC.net, the man was heard telling air traffic controllers in Fort Pierce he was in “a serious situation” because the pilot had “gone incoherent.”
He had “no idea” how to fly the plane, he said, and didn’t know his location.
An air traffic controller advised the passenger to steady the plane’s wings while beginning a slow descent along the coast.
The plane was soon traced, via radar, near Boca Raton. Another controller in Palm Beach picked up the instructions, directing the passenger how to land the aircraft in one piece.
The pilot reportedly was taken to the hospital. Details weren’t available. Neither the pilot nor the passenger have been identified.
Listen to the dramatic audio and watch the landing here:
