Captain incapacitated by panic attack

Incident: Jetblue A320 near Amarillo on Mar 27th 2012, captain incapacitated by panic attack

By Simon Hradecky, created Tuesday, Mar 27th 2012 18:06Z, last updated Tuesday, Mar 27th 2012 18:10ZA Jetblue Airbus A320-200, registration N796JB performing flight B6-191 from New York JFK,NY to Las Vegas,NV (USA), was enroute at FL340 about 55nm north of Amarillo,TX (USA) when the captain suffered a panic attack and behaved entirely incoherent forcing the first officer to seek assistance by cabin crew and passengers to overpower the captain, lock him out of the cockpit and have him restrained in the passenger cabin. Another Jetblue pilot flying as passenger assisted the first officer while diverting to Amarillo for a safe landing about 20 minutes later.

The airline confirmed the flight diverted because of a medical condition with the captain. Another captain travelling as passenger on the flight joined the first officer in the cockpit. The ill captain was taken to a local hospital. A replacement aircraft is going to be dispatched to Amarillo to continue the flight.

Read more about it here.

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Getting help during Captain's incapacitation

When Gongol reached the cockpit, it was clear the captain was in trouble. Passengers and crew were helping him out of the cockpit. A cot had been set up. The captain looked pale and clammy from an apparent heart attack, Gongol remembered.

Pipe bursts on plane, soaks p        Gongol stepped onto the flight deck and came eye to eye with the first officer.

"There was a moment," he recalled. "We both had about five seconds to size each other up. She was wondering about my level of experience. Was I a Cessna driver -- or a professional pilot?

"I wanted to make sure she was OK. I had a feeling she was -- she was better than OK. She had already made the decision to turn the plane toward the nearest airport."

Gongol strapped himself in and did what he could to help get the plane to the airport in Omaha.

Never taking the controls, Gongol acted as a backup for the first officer. He worked the radio, communicating with air traffic controllers -- updating them on the condition of the captain, passengers and the aircraft.

Read more about it on CNN

"Stork strike"

Incident: Air Canada A333 near Dublin on Nov 30th 2010, "stork strike"

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Listening to passengers' health problems

ATC dealing with Pilot's Hypoxia

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Pilot Incapacitation

An air hostess helped land a jet carrying 146 passengers after the co-pilot had an apparent mental breakdown over the Atlantic Ocean, investigators revealed today.

The UK-bound plane made an emergency diversion to Shannon Airport, in Ireland, last January after the Air Canada flight officer began a ‘rambling and disjointed’ conversation, said an official report.

Another attendant suffered wrist injuries as the crew forcibly removed the co-pilot from the cockpit controls and restrained him in a seat in the cabin.
Air Canada

 

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Great ATC

Only recording - no image

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Flying passengers with special medical needs

By James Wynbrandt - August 2007

Maybe you’d like to fly a wheelchair-bound relative to a family function. Or perhaps a member of your management team has contracted a bad case of the flu during a business trip. Flights with passengers like these–or anyone with a significant health issue–necessitate special planning.

“Many medical conditions require people to think before they travel,” said Jennifer Garr, manager of medical operations for Tempe, Ariz.-based MedAire, which provides medical information to flight departments and charter companies. “We assess everything from a cough to someone who just had a cast put on,” Garr said.

The demand for MedAire’s services underscores the need to consult a doctor or other health professional if a medical issue could affect a passenger’s flight. Make sure the physician understands that cabin altitudes can affect some medical conditions. If the doctor green lights the flight, consider the basic rules governing fitness to fly without an attendant: “The individual has to be able to follow commands, sit on a seat and [wear] a seat belt,” said George Martinez, director of flight programs at Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based National Jets and National Air Ambulance....

Read more......

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Prozac Pilots May Fly as FAA Drops Ban on Medicines (Update1)

April 02, 2010, 8:01 AM EDT

By John Hughes

April 2 (Bloomberg) -- Pilots taking Prozac will be permitted to fly as U.S. regulators drop a decades-old ban on four antidepressants including the Eli Lilly and Co. drug.

Risks from side effects, such as drowsiness, associated with the medications used to treat depression don’t pose a safety threat, the Federal Aviation Administration said today.

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Looking for a doctor on board

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Describing symptoms

Dr Rumack, Mr Hammond ate fish, and Randy said there are five more cases 
and they all had fish too.
 

And the co-pilot had fish, what did the navigator have?
 

He had fish.
 

Alright, now we know what we're up against. 
Every passenger on this plane who had fish for dinner will become violently ill in the next half hour 



Just how serious is it Doctor?
 
Extremely serious. 
It starts with a slight <strong>fever </strong>and <strong>dryness </strong>of the throat. 
When the virus penetrates the red blood cells, the victim becomes <strong>dizzy</strong>,  begins to experience an <strong>itchy rash</strong>. 
From there the poison goes to work on the central nervous system, causing severe muscle <strong>spasms 
</strong>followed by the inevitable <strong>drooling</strong>. 
At this point, the entire digestive system collapses accompanied by uncontrollable <strong>flatulence</strong>. 
Until finally, the poor bastard is reduced to a quivering wasted piece of jelly.

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Outcomes of Medical Emergencies on Commercial Airline Flights

Worldwide, 2.75 billion passengers fly on commercial airlines annually. When in-flight medical emergencies occur, access to care is limited. We describe in-flight medical emergencies and the outcomes of these events.

Full Text of Background...

We reviewed records of in-flight medical emergency calls from five domestic and international airlines to a physician-directed medical communications center from January 1, 2008, through October 31, 2010. We characterized the most common medical problems and the type of on-board assistance rendered. We determined the incidence of and factors associated with unscheduled aircraft diversion, transport to a hospital, and hospital admission, and we determined the incidence of death.

Full Text of Methods...

There were 11,920 in-flight medical emergencies resulting in calls to the center (1 medical emergency per 604 flights). The most common problems were syncope or presyncope (37.4% of cases), respiratory symptoms (12.1%), and nausea or vomiting (9.5%). Physician passengers provided medical assistance in 48.1% of in-flight medical emergencies, and aircraft diversion occurred in 7.3%. Of 10,914 patients for whom postflight follow-up data were available, 25.8% were transported to a hospital by emergency-medical-service personnel, 8.6% were admitted, and 0.3% died. The most common triggers for admission were possible stroke (odds ratio, 3.36; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.88 to 6.03), respiratory symptoms (odds ratio, 2.13; 95% CI, 1.48 to 3.06), and cardiac symptoms (odds ratio, 1.95; 95% CI, 1.37 to 2.77).

Read the full article on the New England Journal of Medicine

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Signs of fatigue

3

The 2012 Barometer on Pilot Fatigue brings together several surveys on pilot fatigue

carried out by Member Associations of the European Cockpit Association. Between 2010

and 2012, more than 6.000 European pilots have been asked to self-assess the level of

fatigue they are experiencing.

The surveys confirm that pilot fatigue is common, dangerous and an under-reported

phenomenon in Europe.

•

Over 50% of surveyed pilots experience fatigue as impairing their ability to perform

well while on flight duty.

•

4 out of 5 pilots have to cope with fatigue while in the cockpit, according to polls

carried out in Austria (85%), Sweden (89%), Germany (92%) and Denmark (93%).

•

A common indicator of the problem is that fatigued pilots are prone to fall asleep

or experience episodes of micro-sleep in the cockpit. In the UK (43%), Denmark

(50%), Norway (53%) and Sweden (54%) the surveyed pilots reported falling asleep

involuntarily in the cockpit while flying. In the UK, a third of the pilots said to have

woken up finding their colleague sleeping as well. 65% of Dutch and French pilots

stated they have trouble with “heavy eyelids” during flight.

•

Yet, fearing disciplinary actions or stigmatization by the employer or colleagues, 70-

80% of fatigued pilots would not file a fatigue report or declare to be unfit to fly. Only

20-30% will report unfit for duty or file a report under such an occurrence.

•

More than 3 out of 5 pilots in Sweden (71%), Norway (79%) and Denmark (80-90%)

acknowledge to have already made mistakes due to fatigue, while in Germany it was

4 out of 5 pilots.

Being the first of its kind, this Barometer is a first step towards closing the gap between

operational reality – as assessed by airline pilots – and official statistics that so far have

failed to capture this phenomenon and its potential impact on flight safety.

READ AND DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE PILOT FATIGUE BAROMETER HERE AND A WAKE-UP CALL ARTICLE ON THE ROYAL AERONAUTICAL SOCIETY BLOG

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