An 80-year-old Wisconsin woman successfully landed a small plane after her husband, who was the pilot, apparently died, media reports said.
The woman was not a licensed pilot and knew little about flying a plane, reported WLUK-TV.
“A couple in their 80s were flying and he went unconscious due to a medical condition he had. She took over the aircraft. She’s not a licensed pilot and has very little [knowledge] on flying an aircraft,” Door County Sheriff Terry Vogel told the station.
The woman was identified as Helen Collins by the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Her husband, 81-year-old John Collins, was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
The couple was flying from Sturgeon Bay, Wisc., to Marco Island, Fla., the newspaper reported. They were flying in a twin-engine Cessna airplane.
The station reported that Collins told the rescue crews on the ground that one of the plane’s engines ran out of fuel and it needed to land immediately.
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