A Piper light aircraft similar to the one in the story (symbolic photo). Steve Lynes, Wikimedia Commons
A pilot of a six-seat plane suffered a medical emergency on Saturday afternoon.
A passenger then took over the controls and attempted to land the plane herself.
The passenger crash-landed in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, breaking the left wing in two.
We’re currently testing machine translations of articles by our US colleagues at Insider. This article has been automatically translated and checked by a real editor. We welcome feedback at the end of the article
A passenger on a six-seater plane took matters into her own hands on Saturday and managed to land the plane after the pilot suffered a medical emergency, US authorities said.
The 68-year-old American took control of the 2006 single-engine Piper Meridian turbo prop and landed the plane around 3:15 p.m. Saturday in West Tisbury, Massachusetts, local police said in a Facebook post.
She did so after a 79-year-old pilot suffered an unspecified medical emergency during the plane’s final approach, the Massachusetts State Police said in a statement press statement.
The woman suffered only minor injuries during the emergency landing. The pilot was flown to Boston by helicopter for medical treatment.
read too
Dystopian photos show an abandoned airport where time stood still 50 years ago
It was not clear if this was the original medical emergency or if he sustained further injuries upon landing. According to police statements about the landing, the two were the only passengers.
The plane had previously taken off from Westchester, New York, reports NBC Boston.
The passenger’s attempt to land the plane resulted in a crash landing on a patch of grass near the runway at Martha’s Vineyard Airport, police said.
“The plane landed on its belly without landing gear,” local police said, causing the plane’s left wing to break in two.
The pilot had to be extricated from inside the plane before being flown to a Boston hospital, police said.
read too
Eating on the plane: This is how big the difference is between economy and business class
According to the police, he was in a “seriously life-threatening condition” on Sunday.
Neither the passenger nor the pilot were named by police.
The crash site was later cleared and the plane was taken to a safe location at the airport, police said.
According to NBC Boston, the National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation, with support from the Massachusetts State Police and the Federal Aviation Administration.
Martha’s Vineyard Airport did not respond to a request from Business Insider.
Read the original article in English here.