Passenger Crash Lands Plane After 79-Year-Old Pilot Suffers Emergency, All Safe

In a scene straight out of a Hollywood movie, a passenger crash landed a small plane in the United States, keeping all the occupants safe after the pilot suffered a medical emergency mid-air. As per a report on the AP, the 79-year-old male pilot of a small plane suffered an emergency during the plane's final approach. One of the passengers of the plane took the controls of the airplane and crash landed on a Massachusetts island on Saturday, police said. The 2006 Piper Meridian airplane departed from Westchester County, New York, earlier Saturday afternoon.

The crash happened on Saturday afternoon near Martha's Vineyard Airport in West Tisbury, Massachusetts, said Massachusetts State Police. State police said the crash “resulted in a hard landing outside the runway that caused the aircraft’s left wing to break in half.” 

Authorities did not name either person on the plane and said both were transported to a hospital. The pilot was then flown to a Boston hospital in life-threatening condition. The female passenger was uninjured and released from a local hospital, police said.

The pilot and passenger are Connecticut residents, police said. The crash is being investigated by state police and the Federal Aviation Administration. The aircraft was removed and taken to a secure location at the airport and the crash scene was cleared, state police said.

The crash happened almost 24 years to the day after a Piper crash killed John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette and her sister Lauren Bessette off Martha's Vineyard.