The U.S has entered an unprecedented era of safer skies, according to industry experts, but not every plane landing has been perfect.
On Monday, 2,000 feet above the ground in Wisconsin, an 80-year old woman was forced to land a twin-engine Cessna after her pilot husband lost consciouness. You've "gotta watch" how this gutsy grandmother landed the plane.
Her successful landing reminds us of other daring attempts pilots have made during emergency landing situations. Watch how commercial pilots recently landed their impaired planes in Arizona, New York and Poland.
Elderly passenger lands plane
On Monday, 80-year-old Helen Collins was able to successfully land a twin-engine airplane after her pilot husband fell unconscious at the controls. She landed at Wisconsin's Door County Cherryland Airport. Her husband John died from injuries unrelated to the landing.
US Airways jet crash lands
In January 2009, a US Airways jetliner with 155 people aboard lost power in both engines shortly after taking off from LaGuardia Airport. The pilot, Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger safely put the plane down in the Hudson River. All passengers and crew survived the splash landing.
Hole forces a Boeing 737 to land
Back in April 2011, a Southwest Airlines plane with a gaping hole in the fuselage made an emergency landing at the Marine Corps Air Station Yuma with 118 passengers on board. No one was injured.
Emergency landing in Poland
Last year, the pilots of a LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 767 couldn't get the landing gear to come down, making the final moments of the flight from Newark to Warsaw a bit frightening for the 210 passengers and 11 crew members on board.
That's not irony. It's coincidence. What would be the point of taking the article down?
IIts ironic because what happened in Virginia is the exact opposite of a safe emergency landing. The article's first line is "The U.S. has entered an unprecedented era of safer skies." Tell me that's not irony.
They should take it down because its the equivalent of posting an article on 9/12/01 on how much TSA has improved over the years.
Even though it might generally be true, its just not in tune with today's top story.
30 sec embedded video per video?? No thanks CNN...
Says a "twin engine" plane, picture is a single engine
Captain Sullenburger would b very proud of u! My sympathy for the loss of your husband:(
Maybe if the rich put more money into maintaining companies and paying employees enough to support a family and retire before they die on the job people would do a better job. Or maybe if rich executives didn't out source parts to third world countries so they could put more money in their own pockets things like this would not happen. The Republican party, the party of the rich. The party of the gun toting tea party. The party the KKK calls home will be the down fall of the greatest nation on the face of the earth.
Im Darren and i like my face :p