Passenger lands small plane after pilot falls ill
LONDON (AP) -- When the pilot of his small plane collapsed in the cockpit, passenger John Wildey took the controls of the Cessna 172 over England, and suddenly began his first experience of landing - with some help from instructors on the ground.
"I hadn't a clue what to do to get down," the 77-year-old Wildey told the BBC on Wednesday. "I've never flown a plane before."
Officials at Humberside Airport in northwest England put emergency plans into place and flight instructors were called in to help Wildey after the mayday call went out Tuesday evening.
Soon after he landed, his friend the pilot, the only other person aboard the aircraft, died.
Wildey praised the flight instructors who talked him through several attempts to land before he touched down in the dark in what he described as a "controlled crash."
He said he began to veer off the runway as he was attempting to reach the brakes and could see a wall rapidly approaching.
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