WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.—The 64-year-old pilot of a small plane who became incapacitated, leaving his passenger with no flying experience to land the Cessna in Florida earlier this month, suffered a tear in his aorta, his surgeon said.
Dr. Nishant Patel, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, said in a news conference Thursday that Kenneth Allen’s recovery from the aortic dissection was remarkable.
“Every step of the way, it was really extraordinary that he was able to get through it,” Patel said. “The first thing he said to me the morning after surgery was, ‘When can I go home?’”…