STURGEON BAY - We've heard the amazing audio of an 80-year-old woman with little piloting experience landing a plane in Sturgeon Bay.
“I've got to land pretty quick. My gas gauge shows nothing,” said Helen Collins in a recording.
Now we're hearing what her son has to say about her experience.
“I'm extremely proud of my mother. What she accomplished that day was amazing considering her age,” said Richard Collins, son of John and Helen Collins.
Helen Collins is still in the hospital, recovering from the ordeal. It's a bittersweet situation for her family.
Helen Collins was reading in the back of the plane, when her husband John Collins asked her to come up to the cockpit.
“He said I think I'm having a heart attack, and I'm going to loosen up the seat belt so I can breathe,” said Richard Collins.
Collins says before his mother could take her seat, his dad was unconscious.
Richard says he saw the twin-engine Cessna fly right over the airport.
“I thought why don't they land? Why don't they land?” he said.
Richard says Helen had some flying experience, but that was 30 years ago. Pilot Robert Vuksanovic scrambled a second plane, owned by the Collins family.
“He says he's in the air, and I'm gonna fly off your wing. I'm gonna land you,” said Richard Collins.
The plane was low on fuel, but Vuksanovic provided a light moment before Helen was about to attempt to land.
“Ok Ken, go ahead and have them close the road,” said Vuksanovic on a recording.
“What do you mean?” said Helen Collins in response.
“I was talking to the people on the ground,” responded Vuksanovic.
“Don't you have faith in me?” said Helen Collins.
“I do, but I don't trust the drivers on the road,” said Vuksanovic.
“That's one thing about my mother. In the heat of the moment she can break away from what's going on, and keep an upbeat note. And that's what she did,” said Richard Collins.
After several passes, Helen pointed the nose of the plane at the end of the runway. She bounced the plane once, before coming to a stop.
“When it comes to the landing I know she was scared. She did a fantastic job. She's a hero,” said Richard Collins.
Her husband John was gone. Richard says his father loved to fly.
“He was always upbeat. Not only did he want to be their friend, but he wanted to get to know them,” he said.
Richard Collins says the damage to the plane will be temporary. The family says it will repair the Cessna as a tribute to their father.
“We know that's what he would do. We're trying to follow in his footsteps and do something nice for him that we know he would just love us to do,” he said.
Richard Collins says he hopes to bring his mother home from the hospital in a couple of days.
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