Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin — An 80-year-old woman with no flying experience was forced to land a plane after her pilot husband passed out in mid-flight — and later died, local authorities said.
According to a report by Fox News, Helen Collins landed the Cessna 414 twin-engine plane at Wisconsin’s Door County airport Monday evening with help from another pilot who took to the skies to guide her to the ground.
“She was remarkable on the radio,” Keith Kasbohm of the Door County Cherryland Airport said of Monday’s incident. “She kept her composure and sounded like she had been a pilot for years. She knew what to do when they told her ‘flaps down, increase the throttle, increase the trim.’ She was doing it well.”
Door County police told local station WLUK that the couple was soaring in a twin-engine Cessna aircraft above Sturgeon Bay, some 50 miles north of Green Bay, at around 5pm Monday when the pilot, John Collins, lost consciousness.
Just after 6pm, the plane’s right engine ran out of fuel and lost power, forcing Helen to make an emergency landing.
“She bounced the plane about 35 feet and the nose gear collapsed on the second impact,” Kasbohm said. “She skidded and came to rest on the runway.
Upon landing the Cessna 414, Mrs. Collins and her husband were both taken to a nearby hospital. He was pronounced dead, while she was held for observation after suffering minor injuries.
While Mr. Collins’ passing is sad news, it’s pretty impossible not to be pretty inspired by Mrs. Collins’ amazing strength and will to live. I’m sure her husband would be incredibly proud of her.
For more on 80-year-old Helen Collins’ miraculous emergency landing, watch the following news clip:
via CS Monitor
