When a single-engine plane crashed in Tahoe National Forest on Monday, Beth Frisby was the best possible passerby who could've stumbled onto the scene.
An off-duty rescue nurse who was out walking her dog, Frisby is trained to help people in this exact situation. Karen Lefton, 67, was pinned inside the aircraft, and Frisby helped keep her calm and alerted emergency services, who were eventually able to cut her free, ABC 10 reports.
Lefton's husband Steven had been piloting the plane, and the pair were the only two on board the 1963 Mooney when it started to lose altitude shortly after taking off from Lake Tahoe Airport. Authorities told the San Francisco Chronicle that the aircraft had flipped over after crash landing in pine trees and the pilot was killed on impact.
Frisby's husband Damian was on duty as the El Dorado County Sheriff's Deputy, and he used his wife's iPhone to pinpoint the exact location of the crash.
The cause of the crash is still being investigated, but according to ABC News 10, Steven Lefton had more than 40 years of flying experience.
The sheriff's lieutenant told the San Francisco Chronicle that Karen Lefton was in stable condition on Monday after being flown by helicopter to a hospital in Reno.
"At the point that I was helping the woman in the aircraft, it didn’t matter that I was a flight nurse," Frisby told KCRA. "I was working as basic life support. What I did is what anyone could have done."
H/T: ABC News 10
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