Copiloto received first aid from the crew and a doctor, who traveled as a passenger
A Lufthansa flight with 205 people on board was out of pilot for ten minutes last year, after the co -pilot was passed out while being alone at the cockpit, according to a report by the Spanish Accident Investigation Authority.
The commander had left the cockpit moments to go to the bathroom when the co -pilot passed out during a Frankfurt flight to Seville, Spain, on February 17, 2024, says the report of the Civil Aviation Accident and Incident Commission (Ciaiac).
At the time, there were aboard Airbus A321 a total of 199 passengers and six members of the crew, read in the report.
The plane continued to fly stable due to the fact that the autopilot is active, but the co -pilot operated the commands unintentionally. The report adds that during this period they were recorded on the voice recorder consistent with the “sudden and severe disability” of the copilot.
A air traffic controller tried to contact the co -pilot three times, but got no response.
The report states that the commander returned from the bathroom and tried to open the cockpit door with a normal opening code, which sounds the sound signal of it. The captain made five attempts and a member of the cockpit crew also made a call for intercom. Unpasually, the commander used an emergency code to gain access and assumed the control of the aircraft.
CNN contacted Lufthansa to comment on the matter.
Lufthansa told the German news agency DPA that it was aware of the investigation report and that the security department itself had also conducted an investigation, Associated Press said. The company did not disclose the results, added the DPA.
According to the report, the co -pilot received first aid from the crew and a doctor, who traveled as a passenger, and recovered consciousness. He later said he remembered being treated by the crew and the doctor.
The commander decided to divert the flight to Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport in Madrid, where he landed about 20 minutes later. Once in Madrid, the co -pilot was transferred to the hospital, where he remained for a few hours.
An investigation determined that the disability of the co-pilot was the symptom of a pre-existing neurological disease that he did not know he had and had not been detected during his aeronautical medical examination, the report says.
The co -pilot’s medical certificate has been suspended in the meantime.
Spanish authority described the incident as an “extraordinary circumstance” and said the commanders were trained for situations where another pilot is disabled.
Although rare, disabilities during the flight – including the sudden death of pilots – occur in fact, said Ciaiac, citing several reports.
The authority said it had identified 287 pilot disabilities on flight in a transport report database, managed by the European Commission, during the period 2019-2024.
In a 2004 report, the US Federal Aviation Administration identified 39 flight disabilities among US airline pilots over a period of six years between 1993 and 1998.
