Southwest pilot is ill in flight, fellow passenger forced to replace him
An off-duty pilot on a Southwest Airlines flight from Las Vegas to Columbus, Ohio had to step into the cockpit to assist the co-pilot after the duty captain experienced a mid-flight medical emergency. An emergency situation which, in theory, should be very rare.
“ The captain fell ill while en route. Right now he is in the back of the plane with a flight attendant, but we need to get him to an ambulance immediately ,” a crew member said in a communication to air traffic control, according to LiveATC.net .
“An accredited pilot from another airline, who was on board, entered the cockpit and assisted in radio communications while our Southwest pilot flew the aircraft,” airline spokesman Chris Perry said. as CNN reports. “ We greatly appreciate their support and assistance .”
A nurse who was on board helped care for the pilot, the airline said, adding: “It is standard procedure for our flight crews to request assistance from traveling medical personnel during in-flight medical events. involving travellers, and this situation has involved one of our employees”.
According to FlightAware.com, the plane was airborne for approximately one hour and 17 minutes. After returning to the Las Vegas airport, a backup crew boarded the aircraft and proceeded to Columbus as scheduled.
The FAA is investigating the incident, nothing is known of the nature of the commander's illness, which however must have been serious to require a U-turn and an ambulance on arrival.
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The article Southwest pilot is sick in flight, colleague among passengers forced to replace him comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/pilota-southwest-sta-male-in-volo-collega-fra-i-passegeri-costretto-a-sostituirlo/ on Sat, 25 Mar 2023 10:00:52 +0000.