80-Year-Old Woman Lands Aircraft After Pilot Becomes Unconscious

Bethany Whitfield

Tuesday, April 03, 2012 at 09:24 PM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

An 80-year-old woman, with no piloting experience, was forced to land a Cessna 414 after her 81-year-old pilot husband suffered a fatal medical emergency mid-flight.
Assisted by air traffic control and an airborne guide, she managed a difficult landing, including an aborted attempt, an engine failure, and the collapse of the nose gear.
Despite the challenging circumstances, the woman sustained only minor injuries, with officials commending her extraordinary feat of landing the aircraft.

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An 80-year-old woman with no pilot’s license or formal training was forced to take the controls and land a Cessna 414 on Monday evening after her 81-year-old pilot husband experienced a medical emergency and lost consciousness in the air.

The woman declared an emergency around 5:30 p.m. local time while flying the twin-engine Cessna just south of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Local officials say air traffic controllers tried to assist her from the ground, but decided to send up a pilot in another airplane to help her down as she began to run low on fuel.