Woman With No Formal Flight Training Lands Plane After Pilot Husband Suffers Heart Attack Mid-Air

A woman with no prior training took over her husband's pilot duties when the latter suddenly suffered a heart attack. Yvonne Kinane-Wells, a real estate agent was flying with her husband, Eliot Alper, on the pilot seat in California when the incident unfolded, PEOPLE reported.

Federal Aviation Administration in a news release stated that the small plane was flying from Henderson Executive Airport in Las Vegas to Monterey Regional Airport in California on October 4 and only had Kinane-Wells as a passenger. 

Alper was a real estate broker and founder of Spacefinders and Ramrod Realty, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. Kern County Fire Department who responded to the incident claimed that during the flight Alper had become "incapacitated." Kinane-Wells contacted the air traffic controllers who guided her in making the emergency landing. Emergency vehicles had to reportedly chase the aircraft on the runway, till it came to a stop.

Alper and Kinane-Wells had recently tied the knot in February, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. 

Alper was operating a twin-engine Beechcraft King Air 90, according to the FAA. He was an avid pilot and frequently volunteered with Angel Flight West, an organization that donates flights to people in vulnerable situations, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

After the medical emergency, Kinane-Wells took over and landed the aircraft at Meadows Field Airport in California around 1:40 p.m. Soon Alper was rushed to the hospital, where he breathed his last according to his real estate office.

The flying authorities were surprised by the unique turn of events, Inside Edition reported. Ron Brewster, director of airports for Kern County, believes that the situation is unprecedented adding that he’s “never seen it in [his] entire career.” 

FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are in the process of collaborating to investigate the incident, PEOPLE reported.