She was working out of San Diego at the time as a flight instructor & had this nice middle aged guy working on his private license. Big country type guy.
They were doing some kind of training up high, over 3000 ft, maybe stalls or under the hood for exposure to instrument use, something, I forget but he all of a sudden nosed the C-150 over into a steep dive and was screaming about dying. Not really making a lot of real words.
She tried reasoning with him, yelling and since the engine was going way over red line, she pulled the power but he just overpowered her and went to full power. She switched the fuel off and then tried to physically fight with him. Small woman, large man gone nuts, and tiny cockpit, she was losing bad.
She remembered that she had a can opener in her purse ( she had a boyfriend that … ) so she got it out and went to town on him anywhere she could reach. Messed him up pretty bad. It apparently broke through to him and he just leaned back, dropped his hands and was quiet.
She was still talking to Departure control, well monitoring really and had been yelling into her head set while using the push to talk switch so when it was over, she was quite low and was cleared for either direction on the field. ( San Diego International Airport / Lindbergh field ) has one big joint military / civilian runway. ) Everyone was aware that it was an emergency… LOL
Her boy friend got her a slightly larger one, and sharpened it so as to be a better weapon. She carried that until she quit flying many years later.
I think that was the major reason she slowly got out of the instruction business. She did instruction for a long time before this and has many storied, well, had, she passed last month.
This happened in the late 60’s or early 70’s IIRC.
Mom & Dad, my older sister, ( the one from this story ) and myself flew most of our lives in one way or the other. Got many stories but they mostly happened pre-911 so not many can relate to how it was then.
4 more sisters & a brother ( 7 of us siblings all together ) who were smart enough to make their living in ways that produced money & not hair raising adventures. Bawahahaha