The plane was landed at Humberside Airport by a
passenger under the guidance of two flying instructors
A pilot who fell ill at the controls of his plane
forcing his passenger to land the light aircraft has
died, police have said.
The man collapsed in the cockpit of the plane after
taking off, leaving the "inexperienced" passenger to
make an emergency landing.
The plane landed at Humberside Airport under the
guidance of instructors called in by air traffic
controllers.
Police said they were unable to confirm the cause of
death.
A spokesman for Humberside Police said: "A post
mortem is to be undertaken following the sad death of
the pilot of a light aircraft which landed safely at
Humberside Airport yesterday evening.
"The post mortem is likely to take place tomorrow
afternoon. The results of the examination will
determine whether it is necessary to prepare a file for
reference to the coroner."
He added the death was not being treated as suspicious
and said: "In accordance with the wishes of the family
of the deceased, police will not be confirming the
identity of the pilot nor releasing any video footage of
the incident."
Police, fire and ambulance crews were called to the
North Lincolnshire airport after a distress call was
made from the light aircraft at about 18:25 BST.
Eyewitness saw sparks
Two flying instructors were called in to advise the
passenger, named only as "John", on how to bring the
plane down and a RAF Sea King helicopter was
scrambled to provide assistance.
One of them, Roy Murray, said: "I think without any
sort of talk-down he would have just gone into the
ground and that would have been the end of it."
The passenger and pilot were the only people on board
the Cessna 172 aircraft, which had taken off from
Sandtoft Airfield 25 miles (40km) away.
It is believed the two men had flown to Skegness and
were returning to Sandtoft when the pilot collapsed.
Speaking at a press conference earlier, Mr Murray said
the novice flyer did four circuits of the airport before
landing at about 19:30.
He said: "The gentleman was called John, that's all I
knew.
A Cessna 172S Skyhawk SP similar to the plane involved
in the emergency landing
"We had to get him to do two to three circuits. The last
one was not very good so we told him to go round
again and on the fourth one he managed it.
"He did a beautiful landing in my opinion.
"He was calm. He was answering the calls I made to
him quite professionally.
"I would not be frightened to fly with him."
Eyewitnesses described seeing sparks as the plane
landed.
Stuart Sykes, who saw the aircraft land, said: "It came
down with a bump, a bump, a bump, hit the front end
down, I heard some crashing and it's come to a halt."
Two incoming flights were delayed while the aircraft
was removed from the runway.
'Nothing short of phenomenal'
Richard Tomlinson, a friend of the pilot and his
passenger, told BBC Radio Sheffield the passenger was
"nothing short of a hero".
He said: "For somebody who is not a pilot but has been
around airfields and been a passenger on several
occasions to take control is nothing short of
phenomenal.
"The man is nothing short of a hero."
Mr Tomlinson, himself an amateur pilot, said of the
man who died: was a "very experienced pilot".
He added: "He had been flying for many years.
"Only this week I was sat having a cup of tea and
airfield banter [with both men].
"They were both very funny gentlemen to have a
conversation with.
"It is very, very sad news."
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