Pilot passes out in cockpit, woman passenger takes control of plane and crash-lands

The 68-year-old woman took the plane's controls after the pilot became sick. (Representational image)

A 68-year-old woman passenger took charge of a small plane in Massachusetts, US and crash-landed on Saturday after the pilot passed out in the cockpit.

On Saturday afternoon, just before landing, the 79-year-old pilot of the white 2006 Piper Meridian plane had a medical emergency, the New York Post reported. He was flying from Westchester, New York to Martha’s Vineyard, an island in Massachusetts. The woman was the sole passenger onboard.

Both the pilot and the passenger are from Connecticut.

When the pilot became sick and unresponsive, the woman took the controls and landed the plane without operating its landing gear. She sustained minor injuries and was examined at a hospital on the island, the Martha's Vineyard Times reported.

The pilot, meanwhile, was in a “life-threatening condition” and was taken to a hospital in Boston, according to the New York Post.

The runway of the Martha's Vineyard Airport was closed for a few hours as workers cleared the plane wreck and took it to a secure location.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), National Transportation Safety Board (FTSB) in the United States and the local police are investigating the incident.