Wife lands plane after pilot husband suffers heart attack during flight

A woman successfully landed on a private plane after the pilot, her husband, apparently suffered a heart attack during the flight.

The plane was en route from Henderson Executive Airport in Nevada to Monterey, California, on Friday when its pilot, Eliot Alper, experienced a medical emergency.

His wife, Yvonne Kinane-Wells, who had no formal flight training, took charge and received detailed instructions from air traffic control on how to land the aircraft.

In recordings received from Inside EditionAn air traffic controller can be heard giving instructions to Kinane-Wells, asking, “Are you with me?”

“Yes, I am,” Kinane-Wells replied.

“OK. So make sure you add a little more power,” the controller told her.

Later in the recording he said to Kinane-Wells: “Your altitude looks good, 5,900 feet. Try to stay level at six feet.”

He instructed Kinane-Wells to change course and land the twin-engine Beechcraft King Air 90 at the nearest airport, Meadows Field in Bakersfield, California.

“We’ll set you up so that when it’s your turn, you’ll head straight for Bakersfield Airport. “Is that OK?” said the air traffic controller and Kinane-Wells confirmed.

She managed to land the plane safely and was uninjured.

Kern County Fire Department officials responded to the situation and determined Alper was “incapacitated.” San Francisco Chronicle reported. They said emergency services used their vehicles to intercept the plane on the runway.

Alper was taken to a hospital and his condition is unclear.

In a statement, the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that “the passenger of a twin-engine Beechcraft King Air 90 landed at Meadows Field Airport in California at approximately 1:40 p.m. local time on Friday, October 4, after the pilot experienced a medical emergency. “.”

“The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate. The NTSB will be responsible for the investigation and will provide any updates,” it said.

Newsweek contacted the FAA, NTSB and Kern County Fire Department for comment via email outside of regular work hours.

Kern County Airports Director Ron Brewster said Inside Edition on the incident: “As far as I know, it is unprecedented. I’ve never seen it in my entire career.”

According to the outlet, the pilot’s niece praised Kinane-Wells for her handling of the incident in a Facebook post.

She wrote: “Yvonne, you are a hero because you were able to land the plane safely under so much stress and escape safely.”