Lakeland Passenger Turned Pilot: 'I Have No Idea How To Fly'

POLK COUNTY, FL — A Lakeland man without any experience flying a plane landed a Cessna 208 plane at a West Palm Beach airport with the help of traffic controllers when his pilot experienced a medical issue Tuesday after taking off from the Bahamas, WPBF reported.

The passenger-turned-pilot Darren Harrison, 39, said on the radio call to the air traffic controllers, "I've got a serious situation here...the pilot is incoherent...and I have no idea how to fly the airplane," a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) blog said.

At about noon is when the pilot had told his two passengers he wasn't feeling well. He then fell against the controls and the plane did a nosedive followed by a sharp turn, FAA said.

An air traffic controller, Christopher "Chip" Flores at Fort Pierce Tower answered Harrison's radio call. Harrison did not know where the plane flew when Flores asked for his location. Operational Supervisor Justin Boyle, Flores began instructing Harrison to fly forward and to begin a gradual descent while air traffic control tried to locate the plane, according to the FAA.

Radar pinpointed the plane's location as being about 20 miles from Boca Raton Airport over the Atlantic Ocean, according to federal authorities.

A lead air traffic controller at Palm Beach air traffic facility called Robert Morgan, a controller and a certified flight instructor, to help guide Harrison to Palm Beach Airport, the blog said.

"We’ve never had anything like that…I felt like I was in a movie,” Morgan told FAA. “Everybody wanted to participate and came out of the offices to assist in any kind of way.”

To assist in the safety of Harrison landing the plane, Palm Beach Tower stopped air traffic departures at Palm Beach Airport as controllers called nearby control facilities to put aircraft into holding patterns and to expect delays because of the emergency, FAA said.

Morgan used a printed photo of a Cessna 208 cockpit for reference as he offered guidance to Harrison.

Harrison obeyed instructions Morgan gave him and safely landed the plane at 12:27 p.m. on the runway of Palm Beach International Aiport, according to the blog.

The FAA said an ambulance assisted the original pilot and neither passenger experienced injuries.

Harrison has declined interviews with local media, according to the New York Post.

Harrison's uncle, Glenn Harrison told the outlet his nephew knows how to keep it together during tense moments.

The Post said Harrison's pregnant wife said she couldn't believe her husband managed to pull it off.