Passenger aircraft pilot had violent seizure mid-air
A PILOT on a passenger plane flying from Inverness to Jersey had to be restrained after suffering a violent seizure at the controls, according to an accident report.
The Flybe flight had 43 passengers and four crew on board when the co-pilot, who was flying the aircraft, suffered two mid-air seizures at 11.15am on August 5 last year.
During the seizures, the co-pilot – who went rigid and his lips turned blue – made “inadvertent rudder inputs” which caused the autopilot (AP) to disconnect.
The 29-year-old aircraft commander, who was carrying out a monitoring role at the time, managed to control the aircraft while the female senior cabin crew member (SCCM) struggled to restrain his ill colleague.
The plane, a Dash 8, was able to divert to Manchester and managed to make a safe landing before the co-pilot was taken to hospital.
An Aircraft Accident Report was later submitted to the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), which revealed that only one crew member received a minor injury and bruising sustained when she fell in the cabin during the incident.
The report reveals that the aircraft commander was looking around the flight deck when he noticed that “the co-pilot was shaking, his hands and arms were tensed and that he was leaning back in his seat with his head and eyes looking up towards the ceiling”.
After failing to get a response from the incapacitated co-pilot, the aircraft commander tried to alert crew.
The SCCM, who was towards the rear of the cabin conducting service, immediately went to the cockpit, where she found the co-pilot “grey in the face, had blue lips and a rigid body but was still breathing”.
The report states: “She moved his seat back, took his legs away from the controls and tried to tuck his arms inside the harness but it was impractical as his arms were so stiff.
“It also proved impossible to wind the rudder pedals away from the co-pilot using the adjustment handle.”
The co-pilot then had a “second, more violent seizure”. The report adds: “It was physically demanding trying to restrain him as his limbs were flailing and going stiff. The seizure resulted in multiple un-demanded rudder pedal inputs and the AP disconnected”.
Paramedics boarded at Manchester and took the co-pilot to hospital, where he was released after three hours.