Passenger lands plane after pilot dies

A passenger has landed a twin-engine plane in Florida after the pilot died in flight.

Federal Aviation Administration officials said the pilot collapsed after taking off from an airport in Naples yesterday with six passengers.

The plane was on autopilot and climbing toward 10,000 feet when he pilot died.

The passenger who took over had a licence for single-engined planes but was not trained to fly the larger King Air craft.

An air traffic controller helped the passenger down by calling a friend in Connecticut who knew the King Air plane and relaying instructions. The plane landed safely at Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers.