A MAN with no flying experience, who kept his cool on board a small plane that took off from The Bahamas, says "the hand of God" was with him after the pilot collapsed at the controls.

Darren Harrison, of Florida, told NBC’s “Today” show that he was relaxing with his feet up in the back of the single-engine Cessna after a fishing trip in The Bahamas when the pilot told him and another passenger: “Guys, I gotta tell you I don’t feel good.”

"He said, ‘I’ve got a headache and I’m fuzzy and I just don’t feel right,” the 39-year-old flooring salesman recalled. “And I said, ‘What do we need to do?’ and at that point he didn’t respond at all.”

Harrison climbed into the cockpit and saw that the plane was diving, and fast.

“All I saw when I came up to the front was water out the right window and I knew it was coming quick. At that point I knew if I didn’t react, that we would die.”

Harrison said he reached over the unconscious pilot and grabbed the controls, slowly pulling back the stick to level the plane. It was a commonsense move, he said.

“I knew if I went up and yanked that, the airplane would stall,” he said. “And I also knew that at the rate we were going, we were going way too fast, and it would probably rip the wings off of the airplane.”

That, he said, was “the scariest part of the whole story.”

With help from the other passenger — a friend of the pilot, he said — they moved him out of the pilot’s seat. Harrison jumped in and put on the headset, only to realise that the wires were frayed and the plug was gone. So he got the headset from the other passenger.

He reached an air traffic controller in Florida. Asked if he knew the plane’s position, Harrison said the GPS was out so he had no idea.

According to Flight Aware, the plane had taken off earlier Tuesday from Marsh Harbour International Airport.

The air traffic controller then asked what he could see.

“I see the state of Florida and I see a small airport,” Harrison told him.

At this point, he refused to let fear set in.

“When I was flying and saw the state of Florida, at that second I knew I’m going to land there,” he said. “I don’t know what the outcome’s going to be, I don’t know how it’s going to happen, but I knew I’m going to have to land this airplane because there’s no other option.”

Harrison said he had to get home to his wife Britney, seven months pregnant with their first child.

“People said what if you had crashed and died? You could have at least called her, you could have reached out to her, you had time,” Harrison said. “In my mind I knew I wasn’t going to die, and the thought never crossed my mind to call and tell my wife ‘bye.’”

Air Traffic Controller Robert Morgan, who coached Harrison into a safe landing at Palm Beach International Airport, told him the runway would appear bigger and bigger as he approached.

At around 200 feet, Harrison said Morgan told him he needed to slow down.

“At that point I told the other guy, hey take the throttle and dump it on the floor. Just dump it on the floor as far as it will go,” Harrison said.

The plane touched down safely.

“I said thank you for everything and I threw the headset on the dash and I said the biggest prayer I’ve ever said in my life,” Harrison recalled.

“That’s when all the emotion set in,” he added.

He said he offered up a “thankful prayer for the safety and everything that had happened. But the last part of the prayer and the strongest part was for the guy in the back because I knew it was not a good situation.”

The pilot was taken to a hospital and is expected to be released early this week, Harrison said.

Harrison then called his wife, who wasn’t expecting to hear from him so early. She said that last year, her sister was six months pregnant when her husband died, “so honestly I took a deep breath and prepared myself for it not to be him on the other line.”

“I told myself, God we can’t do this again. I don’t think I could do it again. And thankfully we didn’t have to.”

AN elderly man died yesterday after experiencing a health complication while driving, causing him to lose control of his vehicle and crash into a single-storey building at Chesapeake Road.

According to Superintendent Audley Peters yesterday, the victim - in his 70s - was driving a 1997 silver coloured Honda CRV. Both the vehicle and building were extensively damaged.

The incident happened shortly after 8am.

“Police received a report of a traffic collision that occurred at Chesapeake Road,” Supt Peters told reporters at the scene yesterday.

Shortly after, the investigation team was dispatched to the scene and on the arrival of the officers they found a 1997 silver Honda CRV launched into a single-storey structure.

“On inspection of the vehicle the officers found an adult male in the driver’s seat suffering from injuries sustained as a result of the collision. Emergency Medical Services were summoned and following their investigation of the body it was determined there were no signs of life.”

Mr Peters said initial investigations were that the driver was travelling south along Mackey Street when he experienced “some physical complication” and was alerted by other drivers with the use of their horns.

“He then turned east onto Chesapeake Road, losing control. He then collided into the single-storey structure. We will await an identification by the next of kin to confirm the victim’s identity, as well as an autopsy report to confirm the exact cause of death.”

As it stands the incident is considered an unclassified death, Mr Peters said.

He also confirmed that a man was also in the building when the vehicle crashed. However, he did not sustain any injuries.

Police said investigations will continue.

A woman who allegedly knocked down a pedestrian and kept going was yesterday charged with vehicular manslaughter. Prosecutors allege that Altanease Rolle, 24, of Pine Cone Close, was the driver in the February 14, 2022 crash that killed Sandy Rolle as he walked to work on John F. Kennedy Drive around 1:40 a.m.

Rolle died of his injuries at the scene.

In addition to the vehicular manslaughter charge, Altanease Rolle faced a litany of traffic offenses.

Prosecutors say that Rolle’s Toyota Passo was unlicensed, uninsured and she didn’t have a valid driver’s license.

She’s also charged with failing to remain stationary after an accident, failing to report a traffic accident within 24 hours and failing to transfer the car’s title.

Rolle was not required to enter pleas to the charges when she appeared before Senior Magistrate Derence Rolle-Davis.

She was granted $10,000 bail and returns to court in June for presentation of a voluntary bill of indictment.

Bjorn Ferguson represents Rolle and Inspector Kendrick Bauld is the police prosecutor.

POLICE are investigating a suspected drowning in eastern New Providence.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Audley Peters said sometime around noon, a resident reported to police that their family member had drowned in the canals of South Beach. #He said officers immediately called the Royal Bahamas Defence Force for assistance and a search followed. #“Along with the Defence Force’s assistance and the family member, the body was fished out of the canal and the persons were able to do CPR. However, that individual did not resuscitate,” ASP Peters told reporters at the scene. #ASP Peters said the victim was a 27-year-old man and a resident of Pinewood. He was later identified by family members as Roger Williams Jr, a father-of-one. #Relatives declined to speak to the media. #According to the police press liaison officer, the victim was a part of a group that went swimming in the area. #“From all indications, it was a group who went swimming and the incident occurred when they found that their relative was not found and then someone went under and they brought him up and we have, hence a drowning,” ASP Peters said. “Apparently there were no injuries on the body. He was in a swimming attire.” #ASP Peters said while police have classified the incident as a drowning, they will await an autopsy report to determine the exact cause of death.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Audley Peters said sometime around noon, a resident reported to police that their family member had drowned in the canals of South Beach.

He said officers immediately called the Royal Bahamas Defence Force for assistance and a search followed.

“Along with the Defence Force’s assistance and the family member, the body was fished out of the canal and the persons were able to do CPR. However, that individual did not resuscitate,” ASP Peters told reporters at the scene.

ASP Peters said the victim was a 27-year-old man and a resident of Pinewood. He was later identified by family members as Roger Williams Jr, a father-of-one.

Relatives declined to speak to the media.

According to the police press liaison officer, the victim was a part of a group that went swimming in the area.

“From all indications, it was a group who went swimming and the incident occurred when they found that their relative was not found and then someone went under and they brought him up and we have, hence a drowning,” ASP Peters said. “Apparently there were no injuries on the body. He was in a swimming attire.”

ASP Peters said while police have classified the incident as a drowning, they will await an autopsy report to determine the exact cause of death.