A man is being called a hero after, after this passenger lands a plane coming from the Bahamas. According to reports, the pilot had became unwell and was unable to continue to flying.
Why and How a Passenger Lands a Plane
On May 10th, Darren Harrison began a chartered flight as a passenger, and he ended the flight a hero. The Cessna 208 left Marsh Harbour, which is in Abaco in the Bahamas around 11:00 a.m., and landed at 12:30 p.m. in Palm Beach at the international airport there. Only the pilot, Kenneth Allen, became ill during the flight and he became incoherent while in the air.
According to Harrison, the pilot alerted the passengers. Harrison says he saw the pilot move uncomfortably, and then Allen told him and the other passenger that he had a headache and his head was fuzzy.
Quickly, Harrison asked what they needed to do, but he never got another response from Allen during the duration of the flight. At that point, Harrison looked out the window and saw that the plane was going into a nose dive.
Yet despite having no flight experience, Harrison—as only one of two passengers on the plane—stepped in.
He told NBC News, “At that point, I knew if I didn’t react, we would die.”
He reached over the pilot’s body and grabbed the airplane’s controls to counteract the nose dive.
After the pilot’s body was removed from the seat, Harrison sat down, looking for a radio. Only what he found was frayed chords. Next, he grabbed the headset from the other passenger, and he was able to call air traffic control.
Watch the Instagram video of how this passenger lands a plane:
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As is heard on the recording of the conversation between Harrison and the air traffic controller, Harrison says, “I have no idea how to fly an airplane.”
Robert (Bobby) Morgan, the air traffic controller, responds by asking what the situation is with the pilot. Harrison responds, “He is incoherent. He is out.”
According to Morgan, when he heard the call come in, he had been reading a book, but he got right to action.
Once the air traffic controller understands the situation, he directs Harrison on how to land the plane. According to Morgan, he used a picture of a Cessna 208 cockpit to guide Harrison because he hadn’t flown that particular plane before.
“Try to hold the wings level,” the air traffic controller tells Harrison. “And see if you can start descending for me. Push forward on the controls, and then descend at a very slow rate.”
He explains to Harrison that he’s working together with his team to locate the plane, and he tells Harrison to begin to descend and stay along the coast until they find the plane. Later, Morgan explains that the located the plane when it was near Boca Raton, Florida.
“Maintain wings level and just try to follow the coast either north or southbound,” the air traffic controller says. “We’re trying to locate you.”
After the plane was located, the air traffic controller handed Harrison over to Palm Beach International Airport for directing the plane to land safely.
“Palm Beach Approach is going to talk to you,” explains the air traffic controller. “They’re going to direct you to the Palm Beach Airport. You should hear them on this frequency momentarily.”
The audio recording of the conversation demonstrates that Harrison maintained composure, despite the traumatic situation he was in. And this hero passenger lands a plane with no experience and only the help of professionals over the airwaves.
The video in Instagram shows the plane landing without trouble.
According to Goodnews Movement, “Air traffic control was amazed how this hero was able to land the plane had hadn’t seen anything like it.”
“Before I knew it, he was like, ‘I’m on the ground. How do I turn this thing off?'” explains Morgan of Harrison.
The three people on board the flight received medical attention right away and were all okay, including the pilot.
Not surprisingly, the public response was amazed, especially after Harrison’s interviews on several news networks..