Pilot unconscious; wife flies 40 minutes

FARMINGTON, N.M., May 26 (UPI) -- A California single-engine plane pilot became incapacitated, forcing his wife, the only passenger, to try to land the craft safely, officials said.

The San Bernardino couple was flying to Colorado Springs on May 17 when the 70-year-old pilot became temporarily unconscious, KCNC-TV, Denver, reported Wednesday.

"I was terrified -- terrified," the woman said. "I am not a pilot. I could not have landed."

Longmont-based air traffic controllers and a Great Lakes Airlines passenger flight pilot, helped bring the flight down safely.

The woman was at the controls for 40 minutes before her husband regained consciousness and was able to land the plane at the airport in Farmington, N.M.

During the time the wife was trying to fly the plane, she began to veer toward the mountains, but the soothing, calm voice of the controller, Charlie Rohrer, and the help of Great Lakes pilot guided her until her husband revived, the report said.

The woman had gone as far as reading the instructions for cutting the plane's engine and deploying its parachute mechanism, the TV station said.

"I think he did a great job. They knew we were in trouble," the woman said of Rohrer. "He was very calm. I was on the edge. I didn't know how it was going to turn out."

"Our controllers did a great job and collaborated beautifully with the Great Lakes Air pilot," Ian Gregor, Public Affairs Manager of the Federal Aviation Administration's Pacific Division, said.