A Spanish woman who had never flown an aircraft had to take over the controls when her husband, the pilot, lost consciousness.
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It’s understood the woman is recovering in hospital.
An air traffic controller gave the woman calm and steady instructions for over an hour as she prepared to land the ultra-light aircraft.
AENA and the Spanish emergency services 112 said the pilot died, but it was unclear if that happened before or after the crash.
“He died, possibly before the accident, during the flight”, an emergency services spokesperson told the Guardian. She said the woman barely knew how to read a compass and had the added complication that she was flying above the clouds when her husband lost consciousness. “Don’t worry the plane is not going to crash”, an air traffic controller can be heard telling the woman according to a recording of their exchange released by the online edition of local daily newspaper Diario de Sevilla.
A woman passenger who had no flight experience was asked to perform the terrifying landing of the light aircraft near Seville in Spain, the Metro.co.uk reported.
She landed the plane some 3km away from the airport runway, in an orange grove.
The spokeswoman said on Monday the woman suffered multiple injuries but her life was not in danger. She ultimately managed to gain control of the plane with the help of the air traffic controller, who was hailed by a spokesman for the Spanish air traffic controllers union.
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Seville is Spain’s 13th busiest airport.
