A passenger on a single-engine Cessna Grand Caravan was forced to take over the controls of the aircraft after the pilot became incapacitated. The passenger, who was not identified, radioed air traffic controllers at Palm Beach International Airport and told them he had no flight experience.
"I've got a serious situation here," the passenger said, according to LiveATC.net audio obtained by CNN. "My pilot has gone incoherent, and I have no idea how to fly the airplane."
Air traffic controller Robert Morgan was on break when a coworker called for his help.
Morgan, who is a flight instructor, bolted back to the air traffic control tower and tried to keep him calm. While Morgan had never flown that specific aircraft, he pulled up a photo of the cockpit controls and told him what he needed to do to safely land the plane.
"I knew the plane was flying like any other plane. I just knew I had to keep him calm, point him to the runway and tell him how to reduce the power so he could descend to land," Morgan told WPBF.
"Try to hold the wings level and see if you can start descending for me. Push forward on the controls and descend at a very slow rate," Morgan told him as he came in for the landing.
With Morgan's help, the passenger was able to safely land the plane.
"Before I knew it, he said, 'I'm on the ground. How do I turn this thing off?'"
After the plane safely touched down, Morgan gave him a shout-out to other pilots over the radio.
"You just witnessed a couple of passengers land that plane," Morgan told another pilot waiting to take off.
"Did you say the passengers landed the airplane?" the pilot asked. "Oh, my God. Great job."
There were two passengers on the plane. No information was released about the condition of the pilot or why he became incapacitated in the middle of the flight.
The FAA said it is investigating the incident.