A passenger has landed an aeroplane at Humberside
Airport after the pilot fell ill at the controls.
Police, fire and ambulance crews were called to the
airport after the pilot collapsed and a distress call
was made from the light aircraft.
Two flying instructors were called in to advise the
passenger how to bring the plane down.
One of them, Roy Murray, said the passenger had no
flying experience and did a “remarkable job”.
The passenger and pilot were the only people on
board the aircraft, which took off from Sandtoft
Airfield 25 miles (40km) away.
‘Control room cheers’
Mr Murray, who works at a flying school based at the
airport, said: “He made quite a good landing,
actually.
“He didn’t know the layout of the aeroplane, he
didn’t have lights on so he was absolutely flying
blind as well.
“I think he’d flown once before as a passenger but
never flown an aeroplane before.”
Mr Murray said he tried to keep the man calm as he
talked him through the landing procedure.
“The last thing you want to do is panic, then all sorts
of things can happen.”
He said there were cheers in the airport control room
as the plane landed safely on its fourth attempt.
“It’s a fantastic feeling knowing I have achieved
something and probably saved somebody’s life.
“I think without any sort of talk down he would have
just gone into the ground and that would have been
the end of it.”
‘Heard crashing’
Stuart Sykes said he saw the aircraft land at about
19:50 BST.
“It came down with a bump, a bump, a bump, hit the
front end down, I heard some crashing and it’s come
to a halt,” he told BBC Look North.
“There were a few sparks and three or four crashes,
that must have been the propeller hitting the floor.
“Then it uprighted again and it came to a stop.”
Details of the pilot’s condition have not been
released.
The North Lincolnshire airport said a full emergency
plan was put in place. Roads surrounding the airport
were closed but have since reopened.
Two incoming flights from Aberdeen and Amsterdam
were delayed while the aircraft was removed from
the runway.

Source : 247nigerianewsupdate.com/passenger-lands-plane-at-humberside-airport-after-pilot-falls-ill/