'It's a hell of a place to be,' says grandmother without a pilot's licence as she flies plane running out of fuel next to dead husband

Audio recordings have revealed how an 80-year-old grandmother without a pilot's licence calmly and cool-headedly landed a light aircraft with one engine and virtually no fuel as her husband lay slumped from a fatal heart attack next to her.

Helen Collins, 80, crash-landed a Cessna Chancellor aircraft in Wisconsin after her pilot husband John Collins collapsed at the controls

Helen and John Collins

"It's a hell of a place to be," Helen Collins remarked matter-of-factly after taking the controls of the Cessna and radioing in for an impromptu lesson – nobody was using the phrase "crash course" – in landing a plane.

The transcripts, released by the local sheriff's department in Wisconsin, reveal a woman who remained clear and focused, even as she repeatedly noted that she was running out of fuel and worried at one stage that she was approaching the ground too fast.

"You better get me in there pretty soon," Mrs Collins stated early on. "I don't know how long I'm going to have gas."

Even when she was conveying a sense of urgency, her voiced stayed steady and she showed no fear – just a determination to deal with her predicament. She even managed a moment of levity when another pilot who was scrambled to fly alongside her called for a road next to the airfield to be closed for her landing.

"What do you mean by close the road?" asked Mrs Collins. "Oh I was talking to the people on the ground Helen," he replied. "Don't you have any faith in me?" was her quick response. "I do. I don't trust the drivers on the road," he reassured her.

Mrs Collins barely mentioned her husband John, 81, a retired businessman, after making the initial call. But she later told her son that she knew he had died next to her.

The couple had nearly made it home from a holiday in Florida to Wisconsin when he suffered the heart attack. She had taken some flying lessons decades ago, but had no solo piloting experience.

They were just six miles south of their destination, Cherryland airport, near Sturgeon Bay, where he family was waiting, when she made her emergency call to the control tower.

"I gotta land pretty quick. My back gauge shows nothing," said the retired secretary.

"OK, Helen? We're going to launch another aircraft. It will come up and it will fly right next to you and it will give you instructions and it will fly right next to you and fly with you to the airport," said an official from the dispatch centre.

Robert Vuksanovic , a pilot, scrambled into the air in another Cessna to fly alongside her as a wingman. Meanwhile his wife Cathy, also a pilot and a flight instructor, talked to her from the ground.

In one exchange, he counselled her on her technique: "You're too high go left, power up, power up, power up, power up, power up. Don't pull back, no, power up, keep your wings level, that's it full power, full power, full power, go up, up, up, up, pull pull pull pull pull a little bit pull up."

Mrs Collins: I'm running out of gas.

Mr Vuksanovic: No you're doing fine, you're doing fine bring it around.

Mrs Collins: No, my left engine, my right engine is out.

Mr Vuksanovic: Do you know where the turn switch is so you can turn the nose up?

Mrs Collins: Um... Yeah my husband's got his leg up against it, I don't know if I can turn it.

He gave her visual confirmation that her landing gear was down. "Very good. Good, good," he said reassuringly.

In a rare moment of apparent doubt, she responded: "I don't feel good."

The pair circled several times as Mrs Collins struggled to line the Cessna up with the runway. "I don't think I can circle again," she said. "I'm coming in too fast."

And then she told him her right engine had cut after the fuel finally ran out. That meant she would have land using just one engine – a challenge for even more experienced pilots.

Mr Vuksanovic tucked in behind her for her only remaining chance of making it down alive. "Nose down, nose down," he said. "Turn right a little bit. Turn right. Nose down, nose down. Come on, get down. Get down.

"Bring the power back. Power back. Power back. Reduce the power, over. Reduce the power. Nose down, over. Helen, do you read me?" Barely a second of silences passes, although it seemed much longer. Then Mrs Collins responded, calm as ever: "I read you."

The Cessna bounced off the runway and came to a halt about landed after about 1,000 feet, tipped up on its nose. Mrs Collins suffered only a cracked rib and minor back injuries in the landing.

"Great job, Helen, great job," someone says over the radio. "Outstanding, Helen."