ROWAN ATKINSON, star of the television comedy Mr Bean, was reported yesterday to have seized the controls of a private plane taking him and his family across Kenya when the pilot passed out.
Atkinson, 46, had chartered the twin-prop Cessna to take him, his wife Sunetra and their two children, Ben, eight, and Lily, six, on a 75-minute journey between Mombasa and Nairobi. Noticing that the pilot had closed his eyes and slumped back in his seat, the comedian and his wife moved to the front of the plane and tried to revive him.
When the Cessna now lurching from side to side, started to lose height rapidly, Atkinson - who had never flown a plane before - took the controls. A few minutes later the pilot regained consciousness, apparently unaware of what had happened. The Atkinson family's holiday journey to Wilson Airport in Nairobi last month continued without a hitch and they landed safely.
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