Pilot’s wife safely lands plane in California during medical emergency

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) — The wife of a pilot who suffered a medical emergency took over flying and managed to safely land the plane in California, authorities said.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that real estate broker Eliot Alper was flying a twin-engine Beechcraft King Air 90 with his wife, Yvonne Kinane-Wells, from Henderson, Nevada, on their way to Monterey, California, on Oct. 4 when he was incapacitated because of a medical emergency.

Kinane-Wells took control and landed the plane with help from air traffic controllers at Meadows Field Airport in Bakersfield, California, the newspaper reported.

The newspaper reported that Alper later died. A person who answered the phone at Spacefinders and Ramrod Realty in Henderson confirmed the report but refused to provide their name.

A Federal Aviation Administration report states that a member of the flight crew died during the incident and there was only one other person, a passenger, on board.

Kern County Fire authorities were called to assist during the emergency landing.

Agency spokesperson Jon Drucker said dispatchers received a call that the co-pilot was going to take over landing the plane, and fire authorities followed the aircraft down the runway and chased it as it came to a stop.