Who's Your Air Traffic Controller?

The other morning I was watching a story on the news about a passenger who had to take over for his pilot midair after he suddenly became incapacitated. The young man had never flown a plane before, but luckily when he put on the headphones in the cockpit, an air traffic controller who also happened to be a flight instructor responded and navigated him to the closest airport.

When interviewed, the controller talked about how calm the young man remained throughout the flight, and why it was so important for him as the controller to remain calm as well. He said he didn’t want to freak the young man out, so he didn’t get panicky because he knew that if they both remained calm, they would be able to land the plane safely.