A British Airways Boeing 777-200ER
Photo credit: Mark Harkin (https://tinyurl.com/bdz6mknw)
How flying can go wrong during pilot incapacitation in flight
Pilot incapacitation refers to a situation where an operating pilot becomes unable to perform his duties due to sudden medical issues occurring during flight.
One critical scenario is during low visibility operations, particularly when a plane on auto-land, approaching a decision height close to the runway.
If one pilot flying or the captain becomes incapacitated at this juncture, the other pilot must abort the landing and go around.
Typically, if there’s no response after two callouts, the flying pilot is deemed incapacitated, necessitating immediate action.
However, in Cat II or Cat III approaches that allow pilots to land in extremely bad weather using auto land, some experts argue against going around, deeming it safer to continue with the landing.
Incapacitation can manifest in two forms: obvious and subtle. Obvious incapacitation is sudden, prolonged, and results in a complete loss of function.
On March 14, 2024, a British Airways Boeing 777 had to divert to St John in Newfoundland, Canada due to a pilot’s sudden incapacitation.
Similarly, about a week later, a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 captain was also incapacitated, requiring assistance from another pilot to land the aircraft safely in Las Vegas.
Thankfully, there was another pilot travelling as a passenger on board and he volunteered to assist the copilot land the plane in Las Vegas.
Conversely, subtle incapacitation is partial and often lasts for short periods, but posing a greater risk as it’s harder to detect.
An incident involving an Airbus A350 over Paris on July 14, 2021, illustrates this.
During final approach at Orly Airport, the crew received a wind-shear warning, prompting them to go around and discontinue with the landing.
The captain, co-pilot and the relief pilot failed to notice what went on for those brief periods as no one was flying the aircraft.
Eventually, when they realized and recovered from the puzzlement, they had climbed over their assigned altitude and strayed away from their designated path.
Here partial incapacitation had affected all the three pilots.
In one rare case where both pilots became incapacitated due to hypoxia, as happened in the Helios Airways flight in 2005, the outcome was catastrophic.
In that instance, the aircraft ran out of fuel and crashed.
Despite its rarity of both pilots being incapacitated, the airline industry continues to highlight the importance of training for copilots to safely land the aircraft in the event of a captain’s incapacitation.
For the passengers, it is also important for you all to trust that pilots are professionals and are trained to handle any eventualities associated with this phenomenon.
Have a safe and incident-free flight always!
View YouTube video “Pilot from another airline helps land Southwest flight after captain falls ill”
here https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna76275
View YouTube video” Helios Flight 522: How a Single Switch Killed 121 Passengers”
here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_Rr6-HV3as