Passenger takes control of plane, crash lands after pilot's medical emergency in US

In an unexpected event, a regular passenger grabbed control of a small aircraft and crash-landed it on an island in Massachusetts in US after the plane's captain experienced a medical emergency mid-flight on Saturday. As per a report published in The Washington Post, the 79-year-old male pilot experienced a medical emergency during the aircraft's final approach.

The incident happened at West Tisbury, Massachusetts, close to the Martha's Vineyard Airport on a Saturday afternoon.

"The crash resulted in a hard landing outside the runway that caused the aircraft's left wing to break in half," The Post quoted the state police as saying.


However, passenger was not identified by the authorities, who just stated that both pilot and the passenger were taken to a hospital.

Early on Saturday afternoon, the 2006 Piper Meridian aircraft took off from Westchester County, New York. Just when the aircraft was approaching for landing, the pilot experienced medical emergency. According to officials, both the pilot and the passenger are Connecticut citizens.

The pilot was soon airlifted after landing in critical condition to a hospital in Boston.

The crash is being investigated by the US Federal Aviation Administration, National Transportation Safety Board, and state police. The NTSB is in charge of the investigation, according to an FAA official.

According to the report, the aircraft was removed and brought to a safe area at the airport, and the crash site was cleaned up.

The incident happened nearly 24 years after a Piper crash off Martha's Vineyard that claimed the lives of John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn, and her sister Lauren Bessette.

(Inputs from agencies)