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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When the woman saw that her husband had lost consciousness, she rang a pilot friend who then alerted air traffic control, emergency services said.
Her husband died, although it was unclear whether or not he was already lifeless previous to the crash.
Air traffic controllers in Seville talked her through emergency landing procedure from 3,000m (10,000ft). “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.
The small light aircraft landed 3km (2 miles) short of Seville airport’s runway in an orange grove.
A helicopter and another light aircraft were dispatched to help guide the woman to the airport, which was closed for almost two hours during the incident.
The spokeswoman said on Monday the woman suffered multiple injuries but her life was not in danger.
“Don’t worry, you are going to land without any problem”. She was taken to a hospital and treated for her wounds. She finally managed to realize management of the aircraft with the assistance of the air visitors controller, who was hailed by a spokesman for the Spanish air visitors controllers union.
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The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with their job regulations.
