Passenger lands plane after pilot suffers heart attack mid-flight
A woman successfully landed an aircraft despite having no formal training after her pilot husband had a heart attack in the middle of their flight.
According to a report by the Los Angeles Times, 78-year-old Eliot Alper was piloting a small plane from Henderson, Nevada to Monterey, California when he suffered a heart attack. His wife, 69-year-old real estate agent Yvonne Kinane-Wells, managed to remain calm all throughout as she took over the flight deck and followed instructions by an air traffic controller, who helped her figure things out on her radio.
Emergency vehicles waited for the aircraft to land at Meadows Field Airport in Bakersfield. They chased the plane down the runway upon landing in the afternoon until Kinane-Wells was able to put it to a stop.
Alper was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he eventually passed away.
No other injuries were reported.
In an interview with Inside Edition, Ron Brewster, the director of airports for Kern County, said he has "never seen" such an incident happen in his "entire career."
An investigation will be conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.