Many this week watched with fascination the report of a man with no flying experience whatsoever, safely landing a plane in Florida when the pilot became incapacitated.

The single-engine Cessna 208 with two people on board landed safely at Palm Beach International Airport around 12:30 pm, Tuesday, May 10, thanks to the help of an air traffic controller guiding the passenger to pilot the plane [1].

Air traffic controller Robert Morgan, a certified flight instructor, was on a break when the call came from the plane, which was flying in from the Bahamas [2]. Darren Harrison, the passenger who called in, told Morgan, “I’ve got a serious situation here. My pilot has gone incoherent. I have no idea how to fly the airplane” [3]. Morgan then pulled up a picture of the instrument panel’s layout and started guiding Harrison step by step [4].

“What’s your position?” Morgan asked. “I have no idea,” Harrison replied. “I see the coast of Florida in front of me and I have no idea” [5]. Morgan proceeded to tell Harrison how to “hold the wings level” and “push forward on the controls and descend at a very slow rate” [6]. “Try to follow the coast either north or southbound,” Morgan said. “We’re trying to locate you” [7].

Morgan decided to guide the plane to the area’s largest airport, Palm Beach International, helping Harrison position his aircraft eight miles from the airport [8]. Together they got the aircraft to touch down safely on the runway—something, it is said, that takes at least 20 hours to learn with typical flight instruction [9].

The landing rated 10 out of 10, in Morgan’s view [10]. Experienced pilots, hearing of the incident, were stunned [11]. JetBlue pilot Justin Dalmolin told a local TV station: “The level of difficulty that this person had to deal with in terms of having zero flight time to fly and land a single-engine turbine is absolutely incredible” [12].

Spiritual Lessons

Not only is this a remarkable story of human courage and diligence; it is an amazing object lesson for the Christian’s spiritual journey.

Without the explicit step-by-step guidance of air traffic controller Robert Morgan, Darren Harrison had no idea where he was or how to land the plane over which an unexpected circumstance had given him control. The same is true with the Christian. Without the insight obtained through God’s Holy Word (Isa. 8:20; Acts 17:11; II Tim. 3:16; II Peter 1:20-21), we too have no idea where we are in the scheme of life or history. And without the explicit direction of God’s written counsel—our spiritual instrument panel—we have no hope whatsoever of reaching our heavenly destination.

This week I’ve been involved in some online discussions regarding the authority of Scripture. One participant in the discussions claimed that the Bible can’t always be trusted, that at times the example of Jesus contradicts the Bible. That would come as quite a shock to Jesus, who declared in His conflict with Satan in the wilderness that man shall live “by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4), and who would later say of the Scriptures: “They are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39). Another person in the above discussion insisted that Hebrews chapter 11 exhibits “misogyny” because Barak is mentioned as a hero of faith while Deborah is not (verse 32), and that while Rahab is identified as a harlot (verse 31), the sins of the male patriarchs go without a mention.

But it is never wise to use outside standards and man-made labels to judge the content of God’s written counsel. The Word of the living God is to measure us, not the other way around. Our journey through the morass that is life on this tortured planet can no more be guided by our finite logic and reasoning than could Darren Harrison have reached the runway in Palm Beach by following his senses or best judgment. Little wonder that Ellen White warns the end-time people of God:

None but those who have fortified the mind with the truths of the Bible will stand through the last great conflict [13].

Only those who have been diligent students of the Scriptures, and who have received the love of the truth, will be shielded from the powerful delusion that takes the world captive [14].

Conclusion: “What’s Your Position?”

Like Robert Morgan, God is asking each of us, “What’s your position?” And like Darren Harrison, we have no idea—not without the divine instruction that will lead us safely home. Human opinion, human culture, human scholarship, and human experience all have their place, but in the spiritual realm it is the written Word that must always remain transcendent and take supreme priority.

And just as Morgan greeted Harrison with a big hug when the latter had safely landed, so our ever-faithful divine Controller waits to greet the faithful adherents of His eternal Word with the salutation, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: . . . enter thou into the joy of thy Lord” (Matt. 25:21).

REFERENCES

1. “Passenger With ‘No Idea How to Fly’ Lands Plane at Airport After Pilot Goes Incoherent,” NBC-6, May 11, 2022 https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/passenger-with-no-experience-lands-plane-at-south-florida-airport/2757756/

2. Jamiel Lynch, Dakin Andone, and Pete Muntean, “A passenger with no flying experience landed a plane at a Florida airport after the pilot became incapacitated,” CNN travel, May 11, 2022 https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/florida-passenger-lands-plane/index.html

3. “Passenger With ‘No Idea How to Fly’ Lands Plane at Airport After Pilot Goes Incoherent,” NBC-6, May 11, 2022 https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/passenger-with-no-experience-lands-plane-at-south-florida-airport/2757756/

4. Lynch, Andone, and Muntean, “A passenger with no flying experience landed a plane at a Florida airport after the pilot became incapacitated,” CNN travel, May 11, 2022 https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/florida-passenger-lands-plane/index.html

5. “Passenger With ‘No Idea How to Fly’ Lands Plane at Airport After Pilot Goes Incoherent,” NBC-6, May 11, 2022 https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/passenger-with-no-experience-lands-plane-at-south-florida-airport/2757756/

6. Ibid.

7. Lynch, Andone, and Muntean, “A passenger with no flying experience landed a plane at a Florida airport after the pilot became incapacitated,” CNN travel, May 11, 2022 https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/florida-passenger-lands-plane/index.html

8. Ibid.

9. Ibid.

10. Ibid.

11. Ibid.

12. Julian Mark, “Passenger with ‘no idea how to fly’ lands plane after pilot emergency,” Washington Post, May 11, 2022 https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/05/11/palm-beach-international-passenger-landing/

13. Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 593.

14. Ibid, p. 625.

Pastor Kevin Paulson holds a Bachelor’s degree in theology from Pacific Union College, a Master of Arts in systematic theology from Loma Linda University, and a Master of Divinity from the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University. He served the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for ten years as a Bible instructor, evangelist, and local pastor. He writes regularly for Liberty magazine and does script writing for various evangelistic ministries within the denomination. He continues to hold evangelistic and revival meetings throughout the North American Division and beyond, and is a sought-after seminar speaker relative to current issues in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He presently resides in Berrien Springs, Michigan