Rowan Atkinson, whose new miniseries Man vs. Baby was recently released on Netflix, is perhaps best known for playing the accident-prone Mr. Bean. The mischievous and incompetent Mr. Bean could never seem to avoid getting himself into trouble and causing chaos everywhere he went.
You have to assume that if Atkinson were anything like that character in real life, you’d have heard about it by now. However, there was at least one instance where the comedian found himself in a crazy situation that sounds like the premise of a Mr. Bean sketch. Thankfully for him and his family, he’s not the bumbling maniac that he played on screen, and he was able to prevent an actual disaster from occurring.
In 2001, Atkinson boarded a small plane with his wife and two children while vacationing in Kenya. They departed from Ukunda Airport on their way to Nairobi, expecting a 75-minute trip. Unfortunately, 45 minutes into the flight, Atkinson and his wife noticed that the pilot had his eyes closed and was slumping back in his seat. Upon further inspection, they realized that he was unconscious.
They tried to revive the pilot, but were unable. With the plane swaying from side to side and dropping quickly, somebody had to take over the controls. Atkinson, who’d never flown a plane before, stepped in and successfully kept them from crashing to their deaths. Eventually, Atkinson managed to wake the pilot, reportedly after slapping him multiple times, and he landed the plane safely at Nairobi’s Wilson Airport.
The pilot apparently told them he’d fallen asleep without realizing it. The Atkinsons reported the incident to the police after arriving in Nairobi and went on with their day as planned. They then boarded a different flight back to the UK, without any further issues. Despite saving multiple lives that day, Atkinson and his management company have refused to talk about what happened since then.
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