Imagine the pilot of the plane you’re in passes out, now you’re suspended in the air with no one controlling the aircraft. Would you be able to keep your cool and land the plane? Hopefully, but probably not. That’s exactly what this man had to do in this harrowing story!
To see how he pulled it off and saved the day, scroll down!
When the pilot passes out, he has no choice but to land the plane using knowledge from books he’s read.
29-year-old Max Sylvester, never thought he would be in this terrifying situation where he was expected to land the plane on his own with no experience. That all changed on Max’s first flying lesson.
In mid-flight, the pilot controlling the two-seater Cessna collapsed, Max’s adrenaline took over, kicking him into a “fight or flight mode,” he knew he immediately had to act if he wanted to live.
With his family watching from the ground, Max thought back to his studies and took over the plane.
His family watching from the ground had no idea what was going on, which was probably a good thing. The pilot of the two-seater Cessna was slumped over in his seat passed out in mid-flight.
Instead of panicking Max quickly took control of the situation. He contacted air traffic control and they started talking him through the landing.
With the pilot still slumped in his seat, Max took the directions of air traffic control and begun landing the plane.
When Max started corresponding with air traffic control he still didn’t know if he’d be able to land the plane on his first lesson.
The correspondence starts with Max calling out the code names “tango, foxtrot, romeo” and desperately asking if they can here him. Max then decreases his engine so he can hear them better, even that, most people wouldn’t know to do. The correspondence continues:
“Do you know where your transponder is?” The air traffic controller asks repeatedly he then asks: “Do you know how to operate the airplane?” Max responds: “Very very lightly, um, this is my first lesson.”
The brave father descended from the sky, pilot passed out on his shoulder and his family watching on from the ground.
The air traffic controller walked him through the landing, but if it weren’t for Max studying hard before his lesson, there is no way he would have known what to do. When asked how he landed the plane he said:
“What kept me alive was my study, that definitely saved me. If I hadn’t have studied, we wouldn’t be here, it’s as simple as that.” Max also said this wouldn’t stop him from flying: “There is a bit of a fear of it happening again, but it is one of those things that you never hear about,” he said. “Only in movies, you would hear of something like this happening.”
Watch the video below to hear the full correspondence and see how Max’s studying saved his life!
Hero dad saves himself with family watching on – When the pilot passes out during his first lesson and he’s forced to land the plane!
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