An observer tells how he helped passengers land the plane – 05/11/2022 – Mundo

The air traffic controller who helped a A passenger who has no experience landing a plane successfully This Wednesday (11) he had never flown a plane of the type in question. Tell the details of the experience in an interview with WPBF TV station.

Robert Morgan told the US network that he was outside the tower reading a book when his co-worker shouted, warning that there was a passenger flying a plane and that the pilot was unable to regain control. The case took place at Palm Beach Airport, in Florida.

In this position for 20 years, Morgan was also a flight instructor with nearly 1,200 hours of experience. “I knew the plane flew like any other plane. And I knew I had to keep it [o passageiro] Calm down, point to the runway and tell him how to lower the force so he can land on the ground.”

Morgan said he had never flown a Cessna 208 Grand Caravan like the one in the air, so he used a photo of the cabin to understand the details of the plane and pass it on to the man, who was not identified and was alone in the plane with the pilot.

An audio recording published by the Live Air Traffic website for passengers warns the control tower of what happened and says that it does not know how to drive a single engine. “Confused pilot, and I have no idea how to steer the plane.”

Speaking to the passenger, Morgan discovered that the plane was off the coast of Boca Raton, Florida. That’s when he began giving instructions on how to land the plane, instructing passengers to keep the wings level and “push the controls forward, and go down at a very slow speed.”

“Before I knew it, he’d say, ‘I’m on the floor, how can I stop this?'”

Permission to operate as a single-engine private pilot requires at least 40 hours of flight time, according to US federal aviation laws. Cessna 208 can be used to carry passengers and cargo, as well as land on water.

The US Federal Aviation Administration told CNN it was investigating the issue, adding that the condition of the pilot, who was said to have a “possible medical condition”, had not been released.