Chicago – Simon Bennett, a rider on Team Type 1’s development cycling squad, put his training in first aid to work Thursday night to save the life of a man who collapsed on board a Northwest Airlines flight.

Bennett used an automatic external defibrillator (AED) and portable oxygen tank to revive the man, whose heart stopped during the flight from Minneapolis to Chicago.

“He was trying to reach the call button, but all of a sudden he slumped over and his face turned white,” Bennett said.

When flight attendants didn’t initially respond to Bennett’s repeated attempts to get their attention through the call button, Bennett said he stood up and yelled “emergency!” Another passenger helped him quickly move the man into the aisle.

“I checked his pulse twice and there was none,” Bennett said. “So the flight attendants got an oxygen tank and brought us the paddles. I shocked him once and he came right back to us. He kept saying, ‘I’m fine. I’m fine.’”

The quick-thinking actions of the 25-year-old Australian who has had Type 1 diabetes since 1997 not go unnoticed by the flight crew.

“They gave me a $10 voucher to use at the airport but by the time we arrived, everything was closed for the night,” Bennett said. “This wasn’t about recognition anyway. I just wanted to make sure the guy was all right.”

Bennett said it was the second time he has used the emergency medical training he gained as a personal trainer to save someone’s life. Three years ago, he performed CPR on a child who walked out on a covered swimming pool cover and fell through.

Bennett is a member of Team Type 1, a program of endurance athletes who field a number of teams, including a development squad, men’s and women’s professional cycling teams, a triathlon team and the newly-formed Team Type 2. Team Type 1 strives to instill hope and inspiration for people around the world who are affected by diabetes.

The Team Type 1 development team is competing in this weekend’s 18th Annual Highland Rim Cycling Classic Omnium in Tennessee.