A passenger with no experience and “no idea how to fly” an airplane successfully landed at Palm Beach International Airport after the pilot suffered an apparent medical emergency and became “incoherent.”
Horror in the skies: Pilot becomes incapacitated
We’ve all seen it in the movies. The pilot and copilot become incapacitated, and a passenger who has never flown a plane before has to take the controls and make a landing.
It’s a worst-case flying scenario that’s been used in movies more times than one can count as a suspenseful plot device, as it creates nail-biting tension. An inexperienced person has to try landing the plane, usually talked through the steps by an air traffic controller.
If you’ve rolled your eyes at those movies and doubted such a thing was possible in real life – doubt no more – because it actually happened in Florida.
After taking off from Leonard M. Thompson International Airport in the Bahamas on its way to Florida, the pilot of the Cessna Caravan became “incapacitated,” News Channel 8 reported.
An unidentified passenger got on the radio and explained the situation to air traffic control.
Passenger with no flying experience has to make emergency landing
“I’ve got a serious situation here,” the unnamed passenger told air traffic control, according to audio obtained by CBS News. “My pilot has gone incoherent. I have no idea how to fly the airplane.”
“Roger,” Air Traffic Control responded. What’s your position?”
“I have no idea,” the passenger said. “I can see the coast of Florida in front of me. And I have no idea.”
Like a scene from a movie, Robert Morgan was reading a book outside the tower when he was called in to help.
“There’s a passenger flying a plane that’s not a pilot, and the pilot is incapacitated,” Morgan said he was told. “They said you need to help them try and land the plane.”
The unnamed passenger at the controls was told to keep the wings level and continue up the coast until they were able to pick up his plane on radar above Boca Raton.
Although Morgan had never flown a Cessna Caravan, he looked at a picture of the cockpit and, using that, was able to guide the man to land safely.
“I knew the plane was flying like any other plane,” Morgan said. “I just knew I had to keep him calm, point him to the runway, and tell him how to reduce the power so he could descend to land.”
Landing astonishes air traffic controllers
Fingers crossed by everyone in the air and on the ground, the no-experience pilot and the passengers approached the runway.
“Before I knew it,” Morgan said, “he [the unnamed passenger] said, ‘I’m on the ground. How do I turn this thing off?'”
The air traffic controllers were astonished.
“You just witnessed a couple of passengers land that plane,” one of the air traffic controllers reportedly said over the radio.
“Did you say the passengers landed the plane?” another controller asked.
“That’s correct,” the controller replied.
“Oh, my gosh. Great job.”
Morgan went out to the tarmac and met the passenger who landed the plane, where they hugged it out.
“It felt really good to help somebody, and he told me that he couldn’t wait to get home and hug his pregnant wife,” Morgan added.
