Sudden pilot casualties continue raising safety concerns
On September 24th the captain of an Austrian Airlines flight from Stuttgart to Vienna “began to feel unwell,” according to an incident report from Aviation Herald. By the time the plane started its descent he had become incapacitated and the first officer took control of the plane.
Pilot incapacitations have increased in recent months to several per month, raising concerns about aviation safety. Though pilots undergo regular health screenings, there appear to be maladies that are going unchecked. As the rate of pilot casualties increases, so does the probability of both co-pilots becoming incapacitated.
On September 23rd Alaska Airlines Captain Eric McRae was found dead in his hotel room during a layover before he was to resume duty.
“Though completely unexpected and untimely we have no reason to suspect foul play was involved,” Alaska Airlines Vice President of Flight Operations David Mets reportedly wrote in a memo. “Eric’s ties to the Alaska Airlines family run deep. Eric was a proud father and shared two beautiful young children with his wife Chael, an Alaska Airlines Flight Attendant. His father is retired Alaska Captain Tom McRae.”
The day before, a Delta Airlines flight from Paris to Los Angeles was forced to make an emergency landing in Minneapolis after the pilot became “medically incapacitated.” He was rushed to the hospital and the plane resumed its flight after a six-hour delay, according to an Aviation Herald incident report.
Twenty-four-year-old recreational pilot Sierra Lund, a COVID-19 vaccine victim who can no longer fly solo, emphasizes that commercial pilots undergo regular medical examinations for fitness to fly.
“I think one thing that the public needs to know is, if they hear of a pilot having a condition, or a heart attack in the cockpit, they aren’t just your average person. . . . I mean, these people go in for extensive medical screenings to keep their jobs,” said Lund. “So these should be the healthiest people out there.”
Last month an IndiGo airline pilot collapsed at the boarding gate in Nagpur airport and was pronounced dead at the hospital. According to preliminary reports, 40-year-old Captain Manoj Subramanyam suffered a “sudden cardiac arrest.”
The day before, a Qatar Airlines pilot on flight QR 579 from Delhi to Doha died suddenly on board. The 51-year-old was reportedly traveling as a passenger.
“He was very fit and his untimely demise has come as a big shock for everyone who knew him,” said a colleague, reports the Times of India.
Three days before, a LATAM flight from Miami to Santiago, Chile Monday was forced to divert to Panama City after its pilot died suddenly in the lavatory.
LATAM Airlines Flight LA505 had reportedly been in the air for three hours when Captain Ivan Andaur collapsed in the bathroom and did not respond to resuscitation attempts. The co-pilot and a relief captain landed the plane safely at Tocumen International Airport in Panama City, where passengers were stranded for several hours.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has yet to investigate a link between pilots and COVID vaccines but denies there is one. "The FAA has no evidence of aircraft accidents or incapacitations caused by pilots suffering medical complications associated with Covid-19 vaccines," a spokesperson told AFP.
American Airlines First Officer and co-founder of the aviation advocacy group US Freedom Flyers Josh Yoder is reportedly inundated with calls from private flyers requesting unvaccinated pilots to fly their jets.
“[Yoder is] getting calls now from wealthy businessmen and companies to fly their executives around on business jets with unvaccinated crew,” said Captain Alan Dana, who was terminated by JetStar after 14 years of service for refusing to comply with its vaccine mandate. “Now, they get the luxury of being able to choose, because there are still a large amount of crew available in the United States who are not vaccinated because the companies they work for didn’t mandate it.”
“These wealthy businessmen are requiring unvaccinated crew on their business trips,” Dana added. “Passengers on an airline who bought a ticket don’t have that luxury.”
