Thursday, April 5, 2012

Woman, 80, Lands Plane As Pilot Husband Collapses

If you need motivation this long weekend, this should be it.

An eighteen years of age (strike that, eighty-year-old) woman in the US safely landed a twin-engine plane after her pilot husband collapsed at the cockpit. According to the report, she has no previous flying experience. It is amazing what human can do in times of difficulties.




So, if you are 18 and not 80, and thinks that you are up against all odds in your life, and you feel hopeless, demotivated, you have gone through nothing. Take cue from what Helen Collins did in her first flying experience. You are never too old to learn new things and you definitely are going to gain a lot from being positive!


The Cessna twin-engined plane after landing - photo by AP



Read the rest of the news from Reuters
U.S. woman, 80, lands plane after husband's fatal collapse.

(Reuters) - An 80-year-old woman with no flying experience took over the controls after her pilot husband's fatal collapse, landing their twin-engine plane as it was running out of gas, the airport manager in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, said on Tuesday.

"She was remarkable on the radio," Keith Kasbohm of the Door County Cherryland Airport said of Monday's incident. "She kept her composure and sounded like she had been a pilot for years. She knew what to do when they told her 'flaps down, increase the throttle, increase the trim.' She was doing it well."

Helen Collins and her husband, John, were both taken to the hospital. He was pronounced dead, while she was held for observation, Kasbohm said.

The couple had flown their twin-engine Cessna from Georgia to their home in Sturgeon Bay, in northeast Wisconsin, before the pilot was stricken. Helen Collins took the controls and radioed the airport and was told to circle while a local pilot was called for help. The pilot took off in his own plane to guide her down, Kasbohm said.

"The pilot in the other airplane kept telling her, 'You're doing great,'" Kasbohm said.

After two failed passes, Collins radioed that one of her engines was sputtering and losing power as her gas supply dwindled. She made it on the third try.

"She bounced the plane about 35 feet and the nose gear collapsed on the second impact," Kasbohm said. "She skidded and came to rest on the runway.

"She was OK," he said. (Reporting By Andrew Stern)

5 comments:

Elih Japahar said...

Wow! terpegun dgn keberanian pompuan ni..entah buli kah inda sa p kasi landing tu kalau betul2 terjadi..huh

Okayarms said...

This is truly a motivation but also a sad story... she lost her hubby :( I hope she's okay already. Salute to her for staying calm and landed the plane safely.

tehr said...

Beliau memang berani dan tak mudah putus asa

de engineur said...

She reportedly suffered a crushed vertebra but she's okay. Still, it's amazing what she did.

Gunaqz said...

Hats off! I admire her courage and will to live.