DHAKA: A teenager described on Sunday how he took the controls of a light plane for more than half an hour after the pilot passed out during a joy flight over rural Australia.

Troy Jenkins, 19, said the single-engine Cessna 150 was only 10 minutes into a flight from the New South Wales state farming town of Forbes on Saturday afternoon when the pilot Derek Neville, 61, lost consciousness.

Jenkins said he had taken the controls before while flying with Neville, a family friend. Jenkins flew circles around Forbes airport at a steady altitude of 610 metres for around 45 minutes before the pilot came back to his senses.

‘Keeping it up wasn’t a problem, it was the landing part I wasn’t sure of,’ Jenkins told media, reports gulfnews.com. ‘I was pretty scared.’

‘I thought I had to save myself and him. It was quite an experience,’ he added.

Jenkins said he had landed a plane only once before and that was with Neville’s supervision. Jenkins was relieved that the pilot had regained consciousness moments before they were to land.

BDST: 1857 HRS, JAN 26, 2014