The incident occurred on February 17, 2024, during a flight
from Frankfurt, Germany, to Seville, Spain. The report, released by the Civil
Aviation Accident and Incident Investigation Commission (CIAIAC), revealed that
the captain had briefly left the cockpit to use the lavatory when the copilot
suddenly lost consciousness.
The Airbus A321, with 199 passengers and six crew members on
board, remained in stable flight due to the autopilot system. However, the
report noted that the unconscious copilot inadvertently made control inputs.
Cockpit voice recordings captured sounds indicating his "sudden and severe
incapacitation."
Air traffic controllers attempted to contact the cockpit
three times without receiving a response.
The captain returned and initially tried to re-enter the
cockpit using the standard access code, which chimes to alert the cockpit crew.
After five unsuccessful attempts and no intercom response, he used the
emergency override code to gain entry and resume control of the aircraft.
The copilot was given first aid by the crew and a doctor
onboard, eventually regaining consciousness. He later recalled being treated
but had no memory of the fainting episode.
The flight was diverted to Madrid’s Adolfo Suárez
Madrid-Barajas Airport, where it landed safely about 20 minutes later. The
copilot was taken to the hospital and discharged after a few hours.
An investigation found the copilot suffered from an
undiagnosed neurological condition that had not been detected during his
routine medical evaluations. His medical certification has since been
suspended.
Lufthansa acknowledged the incident and said its internal
safety department also conducted a review, though the results were not made
public, according to German news agency dpa.
The CIAIAC described the incident as an “extraordinary
circumstance” and emphasized that pilots are trained to handle such
emergencies. While rare, pilot incapacitations—including sudden deaths—do
occur. The CIAIAC cited 287 in-flight pilot incapacitations recorded across
Europe between 2019 and 2024.
A 2004 report by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration
recorded 39 similar incidents involving American airline pilots from 1993 to
1998.
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