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Passenger with no flying experience lands plane after pilot has medical emergency

"I’ve got a serious situation here, my pilot has gone incoherent," a passenger told air traffic control while trying to land the plane.

Darren Harrison, a passenger with no flying experience, sprung into action and made a miraculous landing when his pilot suffered a medical emergency midair.

After noticing something was wrong with the pilot, Harrison and another passenger on board the small plane went into the cockpit of the single-engine Cessna 208 and contacted air traffic control in Fort Pierce, Florida, telling them about their situation.

The whole exchange was recorded on LiveATC audio.

“I’ve got a serious situation here, my pilot has gone incoherent," Harrison said on the radio. "I have no idea how to fly the airplane."

When asked what his position was, Harrison responded, "I have no idea. I see the coast of Florida in front of me and I have no idea."

A small aircraft stands on the runway at Palm Beach International Airport.
A small aircraft stands on the runway at Palm Beach International Airport.TODAY

The controller started assisting Harrison and told him to "try and hold the wings level" and see if he could start descending the plane.

Harrison responded to the controller saying that he was already descending the plane at "550 feet a minute." Then, the controller instructed, "Maintain wings level and just try to follow the coast, either north or southbound. We're trying to locate you."

After a little bit of back and forth, the controller decided to get in contact with Air Traffic Control at the Palm Beach International Airport. They were able to find the plane on their radar and identified its location as 20 miles east of Boca Raton, Florida.

Robert Morgan, air traffic controller at Palm Beach, continued to talk Harrison through a safe landing at Palm Beach International Airport, and the plane was safely on the ground around 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the FAA confirmed in a statement to TODAY.

Palm Beach International Airport air traffic controllers reported that Harrison "did a great job" with "no flying experience."

The condition of the pilot is still unknown.