A small airplane passenger in the US took control of the aircraft after its 79-year-old pilot suffered a medical emergency on Saturday. The passenger then crash-landed the plane on a Massachusetts island, police officials said.
Where did the crash happen?
The crash happened near Martha’s Vineyard Airport in Massachusetts on Saturday afternoon, The Associated Press reported. The state police said that the pilot suffered the emergency during the plane’s final approach. They have not named the pilot or the passenger, who were transported to a hospital. The left wing of the plane broke in half due to a hard landing outside the runway. The pilot, who was in life-threatening condition, was later flown to a Boston hospital. The female passenger was unhurt and got released from a local hospital.
The airplane had departed from Westchester County, New York, on Saturday afternoon. The passenger and the pilot of the 2006 Piper Meridian airplane are residents of Connecticut.
The crash is being probed by the state police, National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA. The NTSB is in charge of the investigation.
Following the crash, the site was cleared and the airplane was removed. It was taken to a safe location at the airport.
The crash comes almost 24 years after John F Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bassette and her sister Lauren Bessette died in a Piper crash off Martha’s Vineyard.