What: C And S Manufacturing Corp Cessna 414A en route from Marco Island, Collier County, Florida to Cherryland Airport in Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin
Where: Wisconsin
When: April 2,2012
Who: 2 aboard
Why: After her husband John passed out at the controls of their Cessna, eighty-one year old Helen Collins took some quick lessons “on the fly” and managed to land the plane, with minor damage.
Air Traffic Control talked to her until pilot instructor Robert Vuksanovic took his plane up to fly by her as he coached her down. The distress call came at 5:05 pm. after Collins was three hours in flight from Marco Island, Florida. On landing, Helen and her husband John were hospitalized; John was declared dead at 6:38 p.m. Helen had back pain, minor bumps and bruises and a broken rib, but her son Richard Collins did not lose both of his parents that day.
A heroic effort from ATC, Collins and flight instructor Robert Vuksanovic.
