Wife with no flying experience safely lands plane after pilot husband suffers heart attack midair

A woman with no flying experience took control of a plane and landed safely at a California airport after her pilot husband suffered a heart-attack mid-flight on Friday afternoon, October 4, according to reports. 

Yvonne Kinane-Wells, 69, called air traffic control to help guide her through landing the propeller aircraft as her husband, Eliot Alper, 78, lay slumped in the pilot’s seat beside her at 5,900 feet altitude. 

The Las Vegas-based real estate agent had never operated a plane before, but had no other choice after her husband became incapacitated. 

The couple were en route from Henderson Executive Airport in Las Vegas to Monterey, California, when Alper started to seize. 

Audio obtained by Inside Edition shows Kinane-Wells’ panic as she confirmed their precarious situation to air traffic control. 

The agent on the other end walked Kinane-Wells through the landing, advising her to add more power before redirecting her to the nearest airport. 

“We’re going to set you up so that as you level off from your turn, you’re going to be straight in for Bakersfield Airport. Is that alright?” the agent said to Kinane-Wells. 

Kinane-Wells responded with a shaky confirmation. Minutes later, she successfully emergency landed at Meadows Field Airport in Bakersfield, California for the first time in her life. 

Emergency crews on the ground used their emergency vehicles to intercept the landing plane. Kinane-Wells exceeded the entirety of the 11,000-foot runway, skirting a little off road before coming to a halt. 

The Kern County Fire Department immediately took a still-immobile Alper to the hospital. His current condition is unknown. 

Kern County’s director of airports, Ron Brewster, had never seen a landing quite like Kinane-Wells’. 

“It’s to my knowledge unprecedented. I’ve never seen it in my entire career,” Brewster said, as reported by the Daily Mail.