The heroic passenger who landed a small plane in Florida after the pilot passed out despite having no experience has spoken out about the "life or death situation".
Darren Harrison, 39, revealed his reaction had been "just common sense" after realising that he might never see his wife Brittney - who is seven months pregnant - again in an interview with NBC's Today Show.
The father-of-two had been returning from a fishing trip in the Bahamas last Tuesday when the pilot said over the tannoy: "Guys, I gotta tell you, I don't feel good."
"I've got a headache, and I just don't feel right".
After receiving no response when he asked what to do, Mr Harrison made his way to the front of the plane.
"I realised that we had now gone down at a very fast rate," he said.
"All I saw when I came up 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."
As he moved the pilot, who had suffered an aortic aneurysm, from his seat, the other passenger on board held the plane steady at the controls.
In an audio recording from a call the flooring specialist made to air traffic control at Fort Pierce Tower, he can be heard saying: "My pilot has gone incoherent. I have no idea how to fly the airplane."
During his interview with Today, Mr Harrison said he had to use the co-pilot's headset as the pilot's headset was frayed.
Asked how he thought to grab the wheel and pull back, he said it was "just common sense, I guess."
He added: "I knew if I went up and yanked that the airplane would stall.
"I also knew at the rate we were going, we were probably going way too fast, and it would rip the wings off the airplane.
"That's the scariest part of the whole story."
But despite his terrifying ordeal, he managed to remain calm. "I was pretty clam and collected the whole time, because I knew it was a life or death situation," he explained.
"Either you do what you have to do to control the situation, or you're going to die."
After being advised how to land the plane by air traffic controllers and a part-time flight instructor, Mr Harrison managed to touch down safely at Palm Beach International Airport.
"I said thank you for everything, and I threw the headset on the dash and said the biggest prayer I've ever said in my life," he said.
Once he'd called his wife, he embraced air traffic controller Robert Morgan on the tarmac.
