How many times have we seen in many movies that passengers take the controls of an airplane and land successfully because the pilot is incapacitated. In fact, it is part of the argument of the great Executive decision. But this time, although it seems like a movie, it is real.
A passenger with no previous flight experience of any kind was able to safely land a single-engine Cessna 208 when the pilot was disabled, only with the help of air traffic controllers. The feat happened on May 10, the pilot of a Cessna plane was disabled due to a medical issue. So the passenger -whose identity has not been revealed- He only had one left: pilot and land the plane to survive.
Of course he didn’t do it alone. He was guided at all times by Air Traffic Control, something that logically does not detract from the matter. He managed to fly to a safe runway, take control of the plane and land the Cessna 208 almost perfectly and completely safely, both for the plane and for the rest.
“I have a serious situation here: I have no idea how to fly the plane”
The problem arose about 20 miles east of Boca Raton, Florida. The passenger radioed to point out that he had a “little problem”: the pilot was incapacitated and he didn’t have the faintest idea what to do or how to fly a plane. Besides, the plane was at a distance of 9,000 feet and could only see the coast of Florida, without further reference.
From the control center they told him how to keep the wings level and how to descend little by little, but the main problem was landing. And not the only one: on the other end of the radio they were asking him to contact the Palm Beach landing approach frequency, but he didn’t know how to do it.
The solution? The controller arranged for them to call him by phone from the Palm Beach airport so that he could be told how to land.
The end of the story is straight out of a movie: according to FAA records, the plane landed at 12:30 LT without incident.