When the pilot had a heart attack midflight, his wife, who had no flying experience, was able to safely land the propeller plane with help from air traffic controllers and a U.S. Customs and Border Protection air crew.
CBP said its Air and Marine Operations Riverside Air Unit was contacted by the Federal Aviation Administration for assistance to an in-air emergency on Friday. The pilot, identified as 78-year-old businessman Eliot Alper, had a heart attack and was unresponsive. Alper's only passenger was his wife, 69-year-old Yvonne Kinane-Wells.
The Las Vegas couple had departed from Henderson Executive Airport in Las Vegas, Nev., bound for Monterey, Calif., when Alper became unresponsive.
The CBP's Multi-Role Enforcement Aircraft (MEA) air crew was able to make visual and radio contact with Kinane-Wells. The agency said she was "familiar with the aircraft but without a pilot's license."
The MEA crew, in coordination with air traffic control, provided flight instruction and guided her toward Meadows Field Airport in Bakersfield, Calif.
Emergency vehicles were standing by at the airport to meet the plane as Kinane-Wells came in for an emergency landing. She used the entire runway and then some, going off road a bit before the plane came to a stop.
"The passenger was able to land the plane without injury," Brandon J. Tucker, Director of Air and Marine Operations, San Diego Air and Marine Branch, said in a statement. "This is a true testament to the expertise of our aviation crews, the quick coordination by our FAA partners, and the collaboration by all involved to ensure a safe ending."
The Kern County Fire Department immediately transported Alper to the hospital where he later died, his real estate office announced. He and Kinane-Wells had married in February.
Eliot Alper was the founder of Spacefinders and Ramrod Realty, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. His father founded Sky Harbor Airport in 1967 before it was sold and renamed Henderson Executive Airport.
He was also a volunteer with Angel Flight West, which provides free flights to people with emergency health needs.
I love you So much! So so much. A man with the biggest heart, who has always made us laugh and whom we all looked up too. Many of us have felt like our world has crumbled along with our hearts...
His daughter wrote a Facebook post saying "Life is so short. I love that you got to live a full life doing the things you loved, surrounded by so many people that loved you."
-With TMX reporting
