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The last thing airline passengers want or expect is for a pilot to have a medical emergency during a flight.
But that's exactly what happened on Saturday when the copilot of an easyJet flight from London to Lisbon fainted while in the air.
The plane landed at its intended destination. An airline spokesperson told Business Insider that it was "met by the paramedics upon landing due to a pilot feeling unwell."
"The captain landed the flight routinely in line with procedures and passengers disembarked normally," they added. "At no point was the safety of the flight compromised."
But the incident raises an important question: What happens if a pilot becomes unwell and can no longer fly?
Retired US pilots Kent Davis and Mark Stephens said it's not something they ever stressed over.
Kent Davis spent over 30 years as a pilot for commercial airlines and private clients.
He now operates his own aviation consulting company in the US, Trans Global Aviation Solutions.
Speaking to BI via email, Davis said it is "not a big deal" when pilots become unwell as they are trained to prepare for this.
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"It really is something that is made more of by the press than it really is. I had this happen years ago and I landed quickly as the first officer was very ill," he said.
Davis said he was flying from Montreal to Toronto when the first officer began passing a kidney stone. He said he made an emergency landing in Ottawa, while the flight attendants on board cared for the pilot.
"I declared an emergency primarily to get expedited arrival into Ottawa because my first officer was in so much pain, I thought he was dying," Davis said. "An ambulance met us on arrival."
Retired Delta pilot Mark Stephens worked in the industry for 30 years and was an Airbus A350 captain until 2021.
Stephens told BI that domestic flights usually have at least two pilots, while international flights can have two pilots and two captains.
"Pilots know what they are doing, and they do it repeatedly," he said.
The first thing the remaining pilot or pilots would do is find another crew member to handle the radio work while they focus on landing or diverting the plane.
In the US, for example, pilots must sign a release confirming they are fit for duty before each flight. Stephens said pilots shouldn't sign this even if they have a non-life-threatening illness.
He recalled one instance several years ago where he refrained from flying for around a month because he had the flu.
However, Stephens said the situation would be handled slightly differently if a crew member encountered a life-threatening emergency in midair.
"It is a dire situation if the captain has a heart attack, or is not breathing. But there are procedures in place," he said.
Flight attendants in the US are trained in CPR and have defibrillators, Stephens said. He added that Delta flights also have a direct line to a medical doctor.
There have been several reported cases of pilots dying mid-flight or shortly after landing.
In August, a LATAM Airlines pilot on a three-person crew had a medical emergency during a flight from Miami, Florida, to Santiago, Chile.
He received medical attention after the plane made an emergency landing in Panama, but was later declared dead.
In February, a flying instructor who accompanied a pilot in a Piper PA-2 because of windy conditions reportedly died from acute cardiac failure, per NBC News.
