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Passenger Who Landed Plane With No Flying Experience Describes Scariest Moments
Featured Image Credit: NBC News

Passenger Who Landed Plane With No Flying Experience Describes Scariest Moments

The passenger who helped a sick pilot land their plane has spoken out.

Darren Harrison sprang into action to land a plane when the pilot he was flying with became sick.

Speaking of his heroic feat, Harrison described how he helped land the single-engine plane.

The 39-year-old was in a plane from the Bahamas to Florida, when disaster struck.

In an interview with the TODAY Show, Harrison explained what happened when his pilot became 'incoherent'.

Speaking over the intercom, Harrison described one of the scariest situations any passenger could end up in: "I've got a serious situation here, my pilot has gone incoherent."

The clip then cuts and Harrison, who successfully landed the plane, explains just what happened that day.

Harrison was one of two passengers on board the small aircraft, the other being a friend of the pilot.

Harrison was coming home from a fishing trip when his pilot became 'incoherent'.
Today Show

He was travelling home from a fishing trip when the 'nightmare' situation occurred.

"My nightmare's always been, when I get on flights like this, what happens if something health wise happens to the pilot," Harrison said.

Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened as the pilot became unwell mid-flight.

With the pilot saying to the passengers: "Guys, I've gotta tell you, I don't feel good."

Before adding that he had a 'headache' and felt 'fuzzy', Harrison asked 'well, what do we need to do?'

At that point, the pilot didn't respond, and, sparring no time at all, Harrison took control of the aircraft.

"Just common sense, I guess, being on airplanes, because I knew if I went up and yanked that the airplane would stall.

"And I also knew at the rate we were going, we were probably going way too fast and it would rip the wings off the airplane.

"That’s the scariest part of the whole story."

The passenger safely landed the plane with the help of Captain Bobby Morgan.
Today Show

Harrison went on to add that by the time he moved to the front of the plane, he realised just how dire their situation was, saying: "I realized that we had now gone into a dive at a very fast rate.

"All I saw, when I came up the front, was water out the right window, and I knew it was coming quick. Very, very quickly."

Fortunately, Harrison was able to 'pull back on the stick' and 'turn' to correct the airplane's course.

He then managed to successfully land the plane guided by Captain Bobby Morgan, a part-time flight instructor, on the ground.

The plane landed at Palm Beach, airport, Florida and his thoughts immediately turned to the pilot who is expected to leave the hospital today, 16 May.

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Topics: US News, Travel, Health, News