Viral video: Passenger with no flying experience lands plane after pilot has medical emergency
- IndiaGlitz, [Saturday,May 14 2022]
In a shocking incident, a passenger with no flying experience landed a plane in Florida after the pilot had a medical emergency. Yes. You read it right. Something that you see in films, actually turned into reality after the pilot of a Cessna 208 aircraft fell unconscious mid-air and a passenger named Darren Harrison had to take control of the plane. The plane had taken off from Leonard M. Thompson International Airport in Marsh Harbor, the Bahamas, and was headed to Florida. After the pilot collapsed, Darren entered the cockpit and communicated the emergency situation to the air traffic control in Fort Pierce.
In an audio recording of the flight, the passenger, Darren Harrison, can be heard telling air traffic control a serious situation was unfolding. The whole communication exchange between the air traffic controller Robert Morgan and the passenger was recorded on LiveATC audio. “I’ve got a serious situation here, my pilot has gone incoherent, Darren Harrison said on the radio. I have no idea how to fly the airplane. The air traffic controller Robert Morgan replied: Roger. What's your position? He replied: “I have no idea. I see the coast of Florida in front of me and I have no idea.” “Try to follow the coast either north or southbound,” the controller instructed him. “We’re trying to locate you, he said. And then he gave a set of instructions which the passenger calmly followed and then successfully landed the flight at the airport.
The Airport air traffic controllers reported that Darren Harrison did a great job with no flying experience.A clip showing the plane landing slowly and smoothly at Palm Beach International Airport was shared online by a news reporter and it had gone viral on the internet.
This is brand new video (courtesy of Jeff Chandler) of a passenger landing a plane today at PBIA.
— Ari Hait (@wpbf_ari) May 11, 2022
His pilot had passed out, and the passenger with zero flight experience was forced to land the plane.
Team coverage of this amazing landing is on @WPBF25News at 11. pic.twitter.com/jFLIlTp6Zs