Inexperienced passenger lands plane after pilot falls ill

A passenger, who had never flown a plane in his life, successfully landed a plane at a British airport after the pilot fell ill.

The passenger managed to successfully land the plane at Humberside airport in North Lincolnshire Tuesday, BBC reported

The passenger and pilot were the only people on the light aircraft, which had taken off from Sandtoft Airfield 40 km away from the Humberside airport.

Shortly after the aircraft took off at 6.20 p.m. the pilot started feeling unwell and collapsed. The only passenger on board who had never flown a plane then landed the plane guided by instructions from the ground, BBC reported.

"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," Roy Murray, who instructed the passenger on how to land the plane, was quoted as saying.

Murray said he tried to keep the man calm as he talked him through the landing procedure.

"It's a fantastic feeling knowing I have achieved something and probably saved somebody's life," Murray said.

He said that as the plane landed safely on its fourth attempt there were cheers in the airport control room.

The airport authority said a full emergency plan was in place and roads surrounding the airport were closed.

According to media reports, the pilot died later Tuesday night.