Sydney: An Australian man venturing into the skies for a first flying lesson has been forced to make an “amazing” solo landing after his instructor blacked out mid-flight.
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Max Sylvester’s wife and three kids watched from the ground as air traffic control talked him through safely landing the Cessna two-seater at Perth’s Jandakot airport on Saturday.
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The 30-something had issued a panicked mayday call from an altitude of 1,900 metres (6,200 feet), after his instructor slumped onto his shoulder and could not be woken.
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“Do you know how to operate the aeroplane,” the air traffic controller in Perth asked urgently, according to a recording of their exchange.
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“This is my first lesson,” Sylvester responded, adding that he had never landed an aircraft before.
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Realising the enormity of the task at hand, the tower responded: “The first thing that we are going to do is make sure that the wings stay level.”
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He was instructed to maintain altitude and to make a pass above the runway to get a sense of the terrain and become more at ease.
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“You’re doing a really great job,” the operator reassures the trainee as someone more familiar with the aircraft was rushed to the tower.
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“I know this is really stressful. But you’re going to do an amazing job and we’re going to help you get down to the ground, OK?”
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Some twenty minutes later, the plane made a heart-stoppingly bumpy landing.
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“You did it mate!” exclaimed the air traffic controller. “Well done. That’s amazing!”
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The instructor was taken to hospital in a stable condition and Sylvester received his first solo flight certificate from the instructor’s employer, Air Australia International.
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“This could have gone way, way bad,” Air Australia International owner Chuck McElwee said, according to public broadcaster ABC.
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“But everything worked out right, and it worked right, mostly because of the cooperation of the tower.”
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