Stricken Pilot Saves Three, Then Dies

Jack Francis, 61, was flying his Cessna 185 with his wife and another couple on board on Sunday afternoon, heading home to Park Valley, Utah, from Jackpot, Nev., when his heart began to fail. He was still 80 miles from his destination airport and knew he physically couldn’t make it. So Francis put the Cessna down safely on a highway. The aircraft ran off the pavement and hit a fence, but the three passengers were unhurt. Francis died later that day. “He basically saved these other three peoples’ lives by landing the plane on the highway,” Utah Highway Patrol spokesman Derek Jensen told the Salt Lake Tribune.