Dad lands plane after pilot loses consciousness

WINTER HAVEN, Florida (AP) -- With his wife and three sons watching, a passenger aboard a single-engine plane safely landed the aircraft after the pilot lost consciousness.

Air traffic controllers and the pilot of another plane shadowing the six-seat Piper helped talk Henry Anhalt, 33, through the landing Saturday at Winter Haven Airport, police said.

The plane hit the runway hard, bounced, then touched down, before turning sharply onto a grassy median and coming to a stop on an adjacent runway. The plane had minimal damage, police said.

The pilot, Kristopher Pearce, 36, was taken to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead. The cause of his death was not immediately known.

Anhalt's wife and three sons, who were aboard the plane, were not injured. The Ahalts were returning from a vacation in the Bahamas.

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