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Squawks & Headlines80 Year old Woman Lands Plane After Husband Dies

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80 Year old Woman Lands Plane After Husband Dies

I can't imagine how terrible, terrifying, and stressful that must have been. (www.twincities.com) More...

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KC Hoover 6
What a strong lady in a extremely difficult situation. Hats off to the pilot who came along side of her in the air to help her get down with just the 1 engine. Prayers to her and her family over loss of her husband.
Zach Katona 5
Wow, this is simply incredible in a horrible way. Even if she was used to flying with her husband, to be able to take over the controls while something was wrong with him and to then have to deal with an engine going out? And still she lands the plane successfully? Simply amazing and many props to her and the other pilot who helped. He certainly married a quality wife and I'm sure he would be very proud of her.
Zach Katona 3
my thoughts are with her for her loss.
gftt 4
Wow, what a gal!
You know she was driven to get down safely in hopes of obtaining medical attention for her husband. He would be very proud of her.

tim mitchell 4
I tend to believe that he is proud of her and may have even been with here if she had no flight experience....Landing a twin with an engine out and depending on which engine she lost determined how much usable power whe actually had....This is just amazing; a miracle even.
Boyd Hopkins 2
Brave and courageous lady.
Michael Kaufman 2
A great success story for the record books. The "Beechcraft Pilot Proficiency Program" offers a pilot companion program with ground school and flight instruction on doing just this sort of thing. This story is an indication that this sort of thing does happen and can have a happy ending.
Brent Staulcup 2
Looked like a 421 on the news. That airplane is a handful on one engine for an experienced pilot, much less a non-pilot. Heroic job.
tarnold 1
414. No hump for the geared engines on a 421.
W S Webb 1
Does anyone know of a FAA program for spouses of pilots? So that they can fly the plane in emergency. It was to be taught by CFI and wife didn't need a physical.
Ed Wagner 1
Just saw the updated story and pics...C-414 and the nosewheel collapsed on landing..good job of getting on the ground safely!
Robert Rey 1
An amazing effort, especially also for the pilot talking her down.
Venugopal Menon 1
Very brave and courageous lady with quick reaction in difficult situation. Very good of the pilot who came alongside to help her.Prayers to the lady and her family over her loss of husband.
Ed Wagner 1
Wow! Best example I can think of for Spouses taking co-pilot course. She had to have a lot of skill to bring that twin down...she had "minor injuries" ...did she have an incident on landing? Also..."twin-engined" and "cessna" ...was this a 310? 340? 401?
AviatorLEO 1
I certainly laud the heroic efforts of the wife landing the aircraft, and the husband and wife team who kept her calm while assisting the wife in landing the C414, however I believe the claims of her landing the aircraft with one engine out appear to be mistaken.

According the the Green Bay Press Gazette article [for which Thomas Skubal kindly provided the link], "The Cessna was getting low on fuel and she had been more than three hours in flight after first leaving Marco Island, Fla., then refueling in Rome, Ga., and heading for Sturgeon Bay. Neither engine lost power, but the plane landed with less than a quarter tank of gas." In looking at the accompanying photos of the stricken C414, the tips of all of the blades are bent backward, providing some evidence that both props were turning upon making contact with the runway.
tarnold 1
There are a lot of programs, like AOPA Pitchhitter course. I know Cirrus owners (COPA) has a course specifically for the non-pilot spouse.

I've had my wife through some, but this is a reminder that she needs to do it again. I'm going to get her in the sim soon...

Tom Arnold
Cirrus Aircraft
Skycop21 1
Most of the major aircraft owners groups have a course like this along with AOPA (as previously mentioned). If you don't own your own plane, then a local CFI should be able to help. I have a course like this that I teach here in Texas about once a year.

Zac Armstrong
Allegiance Aviation
tim mitchell 1
thoughts and prayers to her and her family
Ttchockey27 0
congratulations goes out to my CFI Wayne, who was able to talk from the tower at GRB to tell her where the controls and airspeed was and to drop the gear.
Julia Muriale 0
Our prayers & thoghts are with the family.
Ray Zimmermann 0
Had to be a horrifying situation fro this woman. Not a lot of details in the story, but apparently she landed a twin Cessna with one engine out.
Jeff Lawson 0
Flight track for N53WT -- http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N53WT/history/20120402/1735Z/KRMG/KSUE

Unfortunately, the real positions stop over Indiana so the final approach was not recorded.
Sean Harwood 0
The link in the article for the audio release includes some video of the not-so-smooth landing. All in all, however, she did a fantastic job, considering the circumstances.
Sean Harwood 0
It appears this is a re-post. The Chicago Tribune is calling it "Breaking News" but it seems to have happened a few days ago. Sorry for the double-squawk.
Dan Chiasson 0
A gallant attempt to take his wife with him!
Jon Provencher -3
Interesting comments on this article. What do you think about the idea that everyone older than 70 should be banned from flying?
Jeanette Godfrey 3
It is quite clear that you are still young and stupid. If you are lucky you will get there someday, and you will find that even over 70 your piloting skills are still there.
There is more of a need to ban them from speed walking in the malls at 9 am...
tim mitchell 1
I always thought that was something only done in our little mall..lol...."Either move or get ran over sonny"...lol
James draper 1
Stupid idea! Just what we need, more regulation. Maybe ban all people over 50 from driving cars.
pilot0987 -5
I think when your that old its time to give up alot of things including flying.
Brian Bragg 3
I think commenters should learn to spell before displaying their ignorance in public.
Abdulrahiim Browne 1
Dude, I am an English teacher. So I just cringe when I see these mistakes. They are supposede to be Americans educated here in the states? They're more like my foreign language students, although my students have a valid reason for making mistakes. Don't sweat it man, you'll just give yourself a headache, lol.
Abdulrahiim Browne 1
Excuse the typos. I am not an expert typist. I know that there is not supposed to be an "e" after the "d" in supposed in my previous comment.
. . 1
Typos are nothing. But this 'your' thing is actually very often NOT a mistake but rather an affectation. It signifies membership of a particular internets subculture, just as saying 'internets' instead of 'internet' does.
Nicholas Moss 2
Let's see, in one short sentence there are three spelling errors; your, its, and alot and the lack of proper punctuation. Could be a record.
. . 2
You're. Read it again; YOU'RE.

This is not 4Chan. Here, the laws of grammar are upheld.
Thomas Haines 1
Then what happens when a 62 year old dies while flying? Oh yeah, that's right (must be a congressman) just lower the age to 60!
chalet 1
There is an alternative but it is an expensive one: the FAA shall seek legislaton banning old timers over 65 to fly all by themselves and that a safety pilot should be always on board.
chalet 1
A more economic solution would be to allow the safety pilot to be a senior citizen too, if so both elderly gentlemen can continue enjoying their passion and at the same time do it in a safe manner.
Stephan White 0
Well, actuarially, it would be better to require student pilots to have at least 1000 hours simulator time before being allowed in the air solo!
Abdulrahiim Browne 0
What if you were sick and unable to fly ? Is it acceptable for her to save your hide?
Thomas Haines 2
What the hell does actuarially mean?
*LOL* dunno but it sounds yummy. guess i shall adopt it :)
. . 1
...and another hundred thousand hours' spelling time, or unti it's done correctly; whichever happens first.
philip edwards 0
(Duplicate Squawk Submitted)

Women lands plane after husband dies

An 80-year-old US woman with little flying experience has staged an emergency landing in Wisconsin after her pilot husband collapsed and died.

Helen Collins remained calm as she brought the small Cessna plane in to land at Cherryland Airport, even though she said she knew her husband was dead.

She had taken basic lessons in taking off and landing 30 years ago, her son told the Associated Press news agency.

Thomas Skubal -1
(Duplicate Squawk Submitted)

Wife, 80, lands plane in Door County for dying husband

STURGEON BAY — An experienced pilot and the 80-year-old woman he helped land a plane without a pilot’s license were hailed as heroes Tuesday by Door County Sheriff Terry Vogel.

Robert Vuksanovic, 53, of Sturgeon Bay joined Helen Collins in the sky and helped guide her to the ground after her husband suffered an apparent heart attack while piloting the plane Monday afternoon.

Kingair31 -1
(Duplicate Squawk Submitted)

80 Year Old Woman Lands Plane After Husband Dies

Woman who isn't a pilot lands aircraft and walks away

Sean Harwood -1
(Duplicate Squawk Submitted)

80-yr-old woman lands plane after husband dies mid-flight

An 80-yr-old woman, flying home from Florida with her husband, has to take over the controls and land the plane after her husband dies from a heart attack during the flight.