Passenger crash-lands plane on Martha’s Vineyard after pilot passes out

A passenger onboard a small plane lept into action and crash-landed the small aircraft on Martha’s Vineyard Saturday after the pilot passed out behind the controls, authorities said.

The female passenger took over the controls of the 2006 Piper Meridian when the 79-year-old male pilot suffered a medical emergency upon final approach in a terrifying moment, Massachusetts State Police said.

The woman landed the plane in a grassy area near a runway at the island’s airport at about 3:15 p.m. — but the impact of the “hard landing” caused the left wing to break in half, police said.

The pilot was medevacked to Boston Hospital in life-threatening condition, while the woman was unharmed. She was evaluated at Martha Vineyard Hospital and released.

It’s unclear if the pilot’s condition was due to the medical episode he experienced or the impact of the crash.

The pair had flown from Westchester, New York to the Vineyard, according to state police. They were the only two people onboard the plane.

Both the pilot and passenger are from Connecticut. Neither was identified by cops.

The airport’s primary commercial runway was shuttered for a little over two hours as the plane wreck was cleared, the MV Times reported. The damaged plane was then taken to a secure location, police said.

The crash is under investigation by state police, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration.

The crash-landing eerily occurred just one day before the 24th anniversary of the infamous Piper Saratoga plane crash that killed John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette in the waters off Martha’s Vineyard in 1999.