A US woman, with no flying experience, landed a private plane safely after her pilot husband suffered a heart attack mid air. Yvonne Kinane-Wells, 69, called air traffic control in a state of panic seeking assistance to land the plane, reported DailyMail. The only problem was that she had zero prior flight experience and there was assistance onboard.
The plane was en route from Henderson Executive Airport in Las Vegas to Monterey, California on October 4, when Yvonne’s 78-year-old husband Eliot Alper suffered a heart attack and became incapacitated.
The air traffic controllers assisted her in rerouting the plane to Meadows Field Airfield, Bakersfield, which was the closest airport.
When Yvonne received detailed landing instructions, the aircraft was at a height of around 5,900 feet.
“We’re going to set you up so that as you level off from your turn, you’re going to be straight in for Bakersfield Airport. Is that alright?,” The agent is heard directing Yvonne Kinane-Wells to the airport in an audio tape that was obtained by the local media.
With a single phrase and trembling voice, the woman answers.
A few minutes later, she says, “Okay,” and the plane lands safely.
The plane was reportedly intercepted by rescue personnel after it touched down in Bakersfield. Yvonne Kinane-Wells brought the plane to a halt, but due to her inexperience, she used the entire 11,000-foot runway.
The US Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that ‘passenger of a twin-engine Beechcraft King Air 90 landed at Meadows Field Airport in California around 1:40 pm local time on Friday, October 4, after the pilot had a medical emergency.’
“It’s to my knowledge unprecedented. I’ve never seen it in my entire career,” Kern County’s director of airports, Ron Brewster, told the news outlet.
The medical staff rushed to the site as soon as the plane touched down to try to save her husband, but he was not able to be revived.
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