The wife of a pilot who suffered a medical emergency during a flight was forced to take over the controls and was able to safely land the aircraft in California, according to officials.
Real estate broker Eliot Alper, 78, was flying a twin-engine Beechcraft King Air 90 with his wife, Yvonne Kinane-Wells, on a trip from Henderson, Nevada, to Monterey, California, on Oct. 4 when he became incapacitated due to a medical emergency, the Kern County Fire Department told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Kinane-Wells took control of the aircraft and managed to land it with the help of air traffic controllers at Meadows Field Airport in Bakersfield, California, according to the outlet.
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The plane made an emergency landing at about 1:40 p.m., the Federal Aviation Administration said.
Alper, founder of the real estate company Spacefinders and Ramrod Realty, was rushed to the hospital after the plane landed but later died. No other injuries were reported.
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A report by the Federal Aviation Administration said that a member of the flight crew died during the incident and there was only one other person on board.
Kern County Fire said dispatchers received a call that the co-pilot was going to take over landing the plane.
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Emergency vehicles followed the aircraft down the runway and met it as it came to a stop.
Alper and Kinane-Wells married in February. Alper’s father, Arby Alper, was an avid pilot.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
