Sydney --ndash; A student pilot on his first flight has been praised for successfully landing a light plane after his instructor passed out over a West Australian airport.

Audio of trainee pilot Max Sylvester talking to air traffic control was released Monday, revealing he was remarkably calm when he discovered his instructor in the Cessna was unconscious on Saturday’s dramatic flight.

“He’s leaning over my shoulder, I’m trying to keep him up but he keeps falling down,” Sylvester told the controller at Jandakot airport in Perth’s southern suburbs.

“Do you know how to operate the aeroplane?” the operator asked.

“This is my first lesson,” the student replied, adding he’d never landed a plane before.

The controller guided the student circling the plane over the airport while he talked him through landing procedures.

“You’re doing a really great job. I know this is really stressful, but you’re going to do an amazing job and we’re going to help you get down to the ground,” the controller could be heard saying.

The trainee brought the Cessna down to a near perfect landing, even taxiing the plane to a stop off the main runway despite emergency vehicles racing to the scene.

Th owner of the flying school, Chuck McElwee, told reporters he’d never seen an incident like it in 30 years of flying.

“This good outcome is what you hope for. It just worked out this time,” News Ltd reported McElwee as saying.

The unconscious instructor, New Zealander Robert Mollard, was taken to hospital where he is in a stable condition.

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