'Miracle after miracle': Doctor credited for saving pilot's life describes that day
Dr. Nishant Patel needed all of three seconds to sum up how Kenneth Allen is still alive.
“The story is a miracle after a miracle,” he said.
Allen is the pilot who collapsed aboard his Cessna Caravan last week, forcing a passenger with zero flight experience to land the plane at Palm Beach International Airport.
Previous Coverage: Mystery passenger who flew plane identified as Lakeland man Darren Harrison
The safe landing is miracle number one.
Once on the ground, Allen was rushed to St. Mary’s Medical Center with what doctors initially believed was a stroke.
“He had left side and facial droop or weakness,” Patel said. “He wasn’t moving one side of his body. He seemed to be neglecting one side of his entire visual field.”
But tests showed Allen actually had suffered what’s called a Type A Dissection.
An artery in his heart had torn.
That’s when St. Mary’s called Patel, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center.
“About 50% of patients who have this diagnosis won’t even make it to the hospital,” Patel said.
Allen was transferred to Gardens Medical Center where Patel rushed him into emergency surgery to repair the tear.
Video below: Plane landing safely at PBIA
Within hours after the surgery, Allen’s symptoms were gone.
Patel said that is miracle number two.
“The first thing that he said to me in the morning after surgery is, ‘When can I go home?’” Patel said. “And I can tell you that is not the typical question that you get.”
Patel said his patients more often ask what caused the condition in the first place.
He said in Allen’s case, nobody knows for sure.
Allen takes medication to control high blood pressure but is otherwise very healthy.
He’s also very lucky to still be alive.
“Every step of the way was really extraordinary that he was able to get through it,” Patel said.
Allen spent six days in the hospital before being discharged on Monday.
Patel said there’s no medical reason why Allen can’t eventually return to the cockpit and fly again.
Full news conference: Dr. Nishant Patel, who is credited for saving the life of the pilot, gives details surrounding what the pilot went through Thursday afternoon.
Background on the flight
A passenger with no flight experience safely landed a private plane at Palm Beach International Airport Tuesday afternoon after the pilot suffered a medical emergency.
In a published blog, the Federal Aviation Administration said the pilot “told his two passengers he wasn’t feeling well. He fell against the controls, putting the aircraft into a nosedive and sharp turn.”
The blog said one passenger, who has been identified as Darren Harrison, grabbed the controls, pulled the plane out of the nosedive and radioed air traffic control in Fort Pierce.
“I’ve got a serious situation here,” the passenger can be heard telling Air Traffic Control. “My pilot has gone incoherent. I have no idea how to fly the airplane.”
LISTEN: Click here to listen to audio from the Fort Pierce tower or read the log here
Eventually, Air Traffic Control locates the plane on their radar. It was flying just off the coast of Boca Raton.
That’s when Air Traffic Control at PBIA took over and was able to talk the passenger through a very safe landing.
“You just witnessed a couple of passengers land that plane,” Air Traffic Control said over the radio.
'More complicated than a trainer aircraft': Private pilot impressed by video of passenger landing plane at PBIA
The FAA is investigating.
'Absolutely incredible': Pilot reacts to passenger with no flight experience landing plane at PBIA