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Landed safely: the Cessna at Palm Beach International Airport in the US state of Florida
Photo: Wptv / dpa
A passenger has landed a private plane safely in the US state of Florida – without any previous flying experience.
Because the pilot suddenly had health problems, he was unable to continue flying the plane.
With the help of the "hand of God", the passenger brought the machine safely to the ground.
After a fishing trip, Darren Harrison was relaxing in the back seat of the single-engine Cessna when the pilot said to him and another passenger, "Guys, I gotta tell you I'm not feeling well," Harrison tells the NBC show "Today" .
When asked what Harrison should do now, the pilot would not have answered.
He climbed into the cockpit and saw that the plane was descending.
"I knew by then that if I didn't react, we were going to die." Harrison would have reached over the unconscious pilot for the controls and slowly pulled back on the stick to level the plane.
"I knew if I pulled the stick up hard there would be a stall - and we'd crash," he said.
"And I also knew that at the speed we were going, we were going way too fast and it would probably tear the wings off the plane."
It wasn't until after landing that Harrison got emotional
Together with the other passengers, they pulled the pilot out of the cockpit.
From there, Harrison reached air traffic controllers in Florida.
He could not have told them the position of the plane, the GPS had failed.
According to Flight Aware, the plane took off from Marsh Harbor International Airport in the Bahamas on Tuesday.
When asked what he could see out of the windows, he would have answered: "The state of Florida."
The controller gave Harrison instructions through the headset, helping him land the plane safely.
"That was the moment when the emotions ran high," says Harrison.
After landing, he said a "prayer of thanks for the safety and everything that happened," Harrison said.
But the last and strongest part of the prayer would have been for the pilot.
He was taken to a hospital and will probably be able to leave it again at the beginning of the week.
ani/AP