After the pilot experienced a medical emergency on Saturday, a passenger of a small aircraft taken the controls and crashed landed on a Massachusetts island, according to police.
In West Tisbury, Massachusetts, close to the Martha’s Vineyard Airport, the accident occurred on a Saturday afternoon. According to Massachusetts State Police, the 79-year-old male pilot had the issue during the aircraft’s final approach.
State police said the crash “resulted in a hard landing outside the runway that caused the aircraft’s left wing to break in half.”
Authorities said both passengers aboard the jet were taken to a hospital but did not give their names.
The pilot was then airlifted in critical condition to a hospital in Boston. Police reported that the female passenger was unharmed and was discharged from a nearby hospital.
Early on Saturday afternoon, the 2006 Piper Meridian took off from Westchester County, New York. Police reported that the pilot and passenger are both Connecticut residents.
State police and the Federal Aviation Administration are looking into the tragedy. According to state police, the aircraft was dismantled and relocated to a secure area at the airport, and the crash site was cleaned up.
Nearly 24 years had passed since the Piper crash off Martha’s Vineyard that claimed the lives of John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette, and her sister Lauren Bessette.
