It's the story that people have been talking about for the last few days.
A Lakeland man, with no flying experience, had to take the controls after the pilot suffered a medical emergency in mid-air. Darren Harrison tells NBC Today show host Savanna Guthrie he was surprisingly calm during those tense minutes before he landed the Cessna safely. "Somebody asked me what my heart rate was--or what I thought my heart rate was while all this was going on. I said it was probably in the 90's. Then he said 'what about after it was all over?' I said probably about 160."
Harrison made worldwide headlines last week when, with no flying experience, he took over the controls of a small Cessna after the pilot suffered a medical emergency. "By the time I moved forward to the front of the airplane, I realized we had gone into a dive," Harrison told Guthrie. "I didn't realize how fast a rate at that time."
He got on the radio with air traffic controllers in Ft. Pierce, who helped guide him along the Florida coast, until Palm Beach controllers helped him make a safe landing. "About the time I stopped the plane, he said, "that's when it hit me."
Harrison was able to make contact with air traffic controllers, who guided him to a safe landing at Palm Beach International Airport.
photo: Canva