A nail-biting moment was captured on audio when a student pilot with no experience had to land a plane after his instructor passed out.
The student in question, Max Slyvester, hadn’t spent longer than 10 minutes in control of a plane during his first two lessons.
But during his third flight class, everything would change when his instructor, who had been closely watching his every move, fell unconscious.
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The incident occurred in 2019 after the plane took off from Jandakot Airport in Western Australia.
Max and his instructor cruised up to 3,500 ft in the two-seater Cessna 152 aircraft.
Speaking to the Guardian, Max recalled: “I noticed my instructor was staring out the window into the sky above us. I assumed he’d seen something, but there was nothing there.
“Then he started to shake. I’d never seen someone have a seizure, but it was clear that was what was happening.”
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Luckily, at that moment, Max was in control of the aircraft as, if he hadn’t been, the plane ‘may have started plummeting before I’d clocked what was going on’.
Max’s first decision was to call his wife and tell her about the situation as he was left alone to manage the cockpit.
He went on to say: “I explained what was happening, but then my phone cut out. I can only presume she thought that I’d died.”
The student then spent time working out how to contact Air Traffic Control, before saying, ‘Emergency, emergency, emergency’, which was captured on audio.
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Max continued: “The man at the end of the radio reassured me, confirmed there was no traffic, and that I should divert towards the airport urgently. He calmly talked me through every step as I began to fly us back.”
He joked to the controller, saying, ‘I hope they don’t think I’m paying for this class’ but the severity of the situation had dawned on him.
Max added: “I was talked through a few practice landings. I’d fly us down towards the runway to get used to the experience, before pulling back to ascend into the air once again.
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“Meanwhile, in a state of confusion, my instructor began to regain consciousness. Oblivious to what was happening, he started to press buttons and touch dials on the radio, refusing to listen to my objections. That was all I needed, I thought.”
On attempt number five, Max landed the plane safely onto the runway and calmly taxied it to the terminal.
Max said: “Words can’t describe how it felt to hug my wife and grab my three children when I made it to where they stood waiting: we’d both been terrified the kids would lose their father – not that my wife let on to them what was going on.
“My instructor was taken to hospital; it turned out he had a brain tumor. Somehow, I’d managed to save both our lives.”