An ‘unresponsive’ passenger in an aircraft cabin (CGI)
How are deaths handled onboard a plane?
Handling a death onboard a flight, whether involving a passenger or pilot, is extremely rare. However, on October 9, 2024, a Turkish Airlines captain tragically passed away from Seattle to Istanbul.
When the captain collapsed, the co-pilot promptly took over control. Despite first aid attempts, the captain could not be revived, and the co-pilot made the decision to divert the Airbus A350 to New York. Sadly, the captain passed away before the emergency landing.
Airlines and flight crews are well trained to handle deaths onboard and at the same time ensuring the safety and comfort of everyone in the plane.
Strangely, some airlines maintain a policy that no one can be officially pronounced dead onboard. In these cases, they refer to the person as “unresponsive.”
If the passenger is presumed dead, the captain may choose to continue the flight to its destination. If the individual is still alive, a diversion to the nearest airport is made to save his life.
Protocols are in place for these situations. Pilots notify the destination airport, which arranges for the “unresponsive” individual to be transported to the nearest medical facility. It is only at that point that the passenger is officially declared deceased.
In some jurisdictions, a passenger is considered alive until officially pronounced dead by a medical professional on the ground.
Interestingly, some flight crews never report a passenger’s death directly. Instead, they refer to it as a medical emergency, requesting paramedics to meet the aircraft for what they describe as an “unresponsive” individual.
In my own experience, I had a passenger become “unresponsive” during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Dubai, then Amsterdam when I was flying the Boeing 777. The passenger was traveling with his family and his final wish was to be buried in his homeland.
As such, special arrangements were made so that the he could continue the journey without bureaucratic complications, allowing his final wishes to be fulfilled. Had he been declared dead on board, the legal and bureaucratic hurdles in Dubai would have prevented his onward travel.
There are established protocols for such instances. Typically, the body is discreetly secured in a window seat with a seatbelt, positioned to appear as though the person is asleep. A blanket is placed over him, lights in the area are dimmed, and the window shade is lowered to create as much privacy as possible.
Apparently, Singapore Airlines once had a unique solution for handling the unfortunate event of a passenger dying on board. They installed a “corpse cupboard” on their Airbus A340-500 aircraft.
While this may sound macabre, this is how deaths are managed onboard flights to ensure that both the dignity of the deceased and the comfort of the other passengers are maintained.
View YouTube video ‘Turkish Airlines pilot suddenly dies during flight from US…’