FLASH NEWS
Lufthansa plane without a pilot for 10 minutes/ The assistant fainted, the captain went to the toilet
2025-05-19 17:34:31 / BOTA
A total of 199 passengers and six crew members were on board the Airbus A321 at the time, the report said.
The plane continued to fly steadily due to the active autopilot, however, the co-pilot inadvertently operated the controls, the report said.
He added that the unconscious pilot's 'strange' breathing was recorded on the voice recorder during this time.
An air traffic controller tried to contact the co-pilot, but there was no response.
The report said the captain returned from the toilet and attempted to open the cockpit door with a standard opening code, which is activated in the cockpit.
The pilot made five attempts and a cabin crew member also made an intercom call to the cockpit. With no response, the captain used an emergency code to log in and took control of the plane.
Lufthansa told German news agency DPA that it was aware of the investigation report and that its flight safety department had also conducted an investigation.
According to the report, the co-pilot received first aid from the crew and a doctor, who was traveling as a passenger. He then regained consciousness and later said he remembered being treated by the crew and the doctor.
The other pilot decided to divert the flight to Madrid's Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, where it landed approximately 20 minutes later. After arriving in Madrid, the pilot was transferred to the hospital where he remained for several hours.
An investigation determined that the pilot's incapacity was a symptom of a pre-existing neurological condition that he did not know he had and that was not noted during his medical examination, the report said.
The co-pilot's medical certificate has since been suspended.
The Spanish authority detailed the incident as an "extraordinary circumstance" and said the pilots were trained for situations where another pilot is incapacitated.
Although rare, in-flight incapacitations, including the sudden death of pilots, do occur, the CIAIAC said, citing various reports.
The authority said it identified 287 pilot in-flight disabilities in a database of transport occurrence reports, managed by the European Commission, during the period 2019-2024.
In a 2004 report, the US Federal Aviation Administration identified 39 in-flight disabilities among US airline pilots over a six-year period between 1993 and 1998.
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