A woman with no flying experience was forced to crash land a plane after the pilot – her husband – fell unconscious in the cockpit during a flight.
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An air traffic controller gave the woman calm and steady instructions for over an hour as she prepared to land the ultra-light aircraft. Don’t worry the plane is not going to crash.
Spain’s aircraft controllers union have said that she was fortunate that the controller on duty knew how to fly the plane. 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. Set your course to the right, begin to turn the plane… until you see the S in the compass…
When the woman saw that her husband had lost consciousness, she rang a pilot friend who then alerted air traffic control, emergency services said.
“S for Sevilla?” the woman asked.
“Little by little we’ll get there”, he assured her.
After staff at the airport were told by the woman about the situation they dispatched a helicopter to help her guide the small plane to the runway as safely as possible.
It’s understood the woman is recovering in hospital. A hospital spokesperson told Diario de Sevilla that she was “stable and conscious and will not require intensive care”.
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The Seville airport was closed from 1:20 to 3 pm local time on Monday while the midair drama played out.
