Media caption Passenger John Wildey: "I hadn't a clue what to do to get down" 
 
 A pilot who fell ill at the controls of his plane forcing his passenger to land the light aircraft has died, police have said. 
 
 The man collapsed in the cockpit of the plane after taking off, leaving the "inexperienced" passenger to make an emergency landing. 
 
 The plane landed at Humberside Airport under the guidance of instructors called in by air traffic controllers. 
 
 Police said they were unable to confirm the cause of death. 
 
 A spokesman for Humberside Police said: "A post mortem is to be undertaken following the sad death of the pilot of a light aircraft which landed safely at Humberside Airport yesterday evening. 
 
 "The post mortem is likely to take place tomorrow afternoon. The results of the examination will determine whether it is necessary to prepare a file for reference to the coroner." 
 
 Image caption The plane was landed at Humberside Airport by a passenger under the guidance of two flying instructors 
 
 He added the death was not being treated as suspicious and said: "In accordance with the wishes of the family of the deceased, police will not be confirming the identity of the pilot nor releasing any video footage of the incident." 
 
 Police, fire and ambulance crews were called to the North Lincolnshire airport after a distress call was made from the light aircraft at about 18:25 BST. 
 
 Eyewitness saw sparks 
 
 Two flying instructors were called in to advise the passenger, named only as "John", on how to bring the plane down and a RAF Sea King helicopter was scrambled to provide assistance. 
 
 The man is nothing short of a hero Richard Tomlinson, Friend of the pilot and passenger 
 
 One of them, Roy Murray, said: "I think without any sort of talk-down he would have just gone into the ground and that would have been the end of it." 
 
 The passenger and pilot were the only people on board the Cessna 172 aircraft, which had taken off from Sandtoft Airfield 25 miles (40km) away. 
 
 It is believed the two men had flown to Skegness and were returning to Sandtoft when the pilot collapsed. 
 
 Speaking at a press conference earlier, Mr Murray said the novice flyer did four circuits of the airport before landing at about 19:30. 
 
 He said: "The gentleman was called John, that's all I knew. 
 
 Media caption Deborah Zost, operations director at Humberside Airport, describes what happened 
 
 "We had to get him to do two to three circuits. The last one was not very good so we told him to go round again and on the fourth one he managed it. 
 
 "He did a beautiful landing in my opinion. 
 
 "He was calm. He was answering the calls I made to him quite professionally. 
 
 "I would not be frightened to fly with him." 
 
 Eyewitnesses described seeing sparks as the plane landed. 
 
 Stuart Sykes, who saw the aircraft land, said: "It came down with a bump, a bump, a bump, hit the front end down, I heard some crashing and it's come to a halt." 
 
 Two incoming flights were delayed while the aircraft was removed from the runway. 
 
 'Nothing short of phenomenal' 
 
 Richard Tomlinson, a friend of the pilot and his passenger, told BBC Radio Sheffield the passenger was "nothing short of a hero". 
 
 Media caption Flying instructor Roy Murray describing what he said to the passenger 
 
 He said: "For somebody who is not a pilot but has been around airfields and been a passenger on several occasions to take control is nothing short of phenomenal. 
 
 "The man is nothing short of a hero." 
 
 Mr Tomlinson, himself an amateur pilot, said of the man who died: was a "very experienced pilot". 
 
 He added: "He had been flying for many years. 
 
 "Only this week I was sat having a cup of tea and airfield banter [with both men]. 
 
 "They were both very funny gentlemen to have a conversation with. 
 
 "It is very, very sad news." ||||| A passenger has been forced to land a plane at Humberside Airport because its pilot fell ill, according to reports. 
 
 A passenger, who was on board the light aircraft when the pilot became ill at the controls, took over and landed the plane. 
 
 It's thought the passenger was helped with instructions given by two flying instructors. 
 
 The condition of the pilot is not known. 
 
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 A Humberside pilot is understood to have seen the landing while he moved his aircraft to make way. 
 
 Under the name 'Mike B', he posted on social media afterwards: "Just watched and listened to the most amazing brave passenger who landed at Humberside at night with a blacked out Cockpit and cross wind. 
 
 "The boy done well, never landed a plane before and sounded calm as a cucumber on the radio." 
 
 Humberside Police posted this, also on social media, after the incident: "Police and fire have been at humb airport tonight following a distress call from a pilot who became unable to fly while heading back to land. 
 
 "Thankfully the passenger landed the aircraft safely and without major incident. Condition of pilot is not known at this stage." 
 
 Roads around the airport were initially closed after the incident, but have now been re-opened. 
 
 It is understood flights are now landing again at the airport.
– After the pilot of a small plane fell ill at the controls, two flight instructors were called in to the airport to give his only passenger a crash course in not crashing. The passenger—who had no flying experience—managed to bring the plane in for a safe, though somewhat bumpy, landing at England's Humberside Airport. "He made quite a good landing actually," one of the flight instructors tells the BBC. "He didn't know the layout of the airplane, he didn't have lights on so he was absolutely flying blind as well," he says. "I think he'd flown once before as a passenger but never flown an airplane before." There were cheers in the control room as the passenger made a successful landing on his fourth attempt, says the instructor, who did his best to keep the man calm. "I think without any sort of talk-down he would have just gone into the ground and that would have been the end of it," he says. A pilot who witnessed the landing praised the "most amazing brave passenger who landed at Humberside at night with a blacked out cockpit and cross wind," the Lincolnshire Echo reports. "The boy done well, never landed a plane before and sounded calm as a cucumber on the radio," he said. Sadly, the BBC reports that the pilot died; the cause of death has not been given. (In another recent emergency landing, a plane was forced to come down ... on a California highway.)