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Stewardess 'helped land Canada plane'
Sam Lyon20.11.08
A CO-PILOT suffering a mental breakdown had to be forcibly removed from the cockpit of a Boeing 767 before a flight attendant helped the pilot make a safe landing.
The UK-bound Air Canada flight from Toronto, carrying 146 people, was forced to land at Shannon airport in Ireland during the emergency in January.
The pilot had noticed his colleague was not in good professional shape on the day of the flight, an Irish Air Accident Investigation Unit report said today.
As the aircraft was flying over the Atlantic he began talking in a "rambling and disjointed" manner, before the pilot summoned flight attendants to remove him from the cockpit.
The pilot then asked if any passenger was a qualified pilot. When none was found, one stewardess said she held a commercial pilot's licence.
The report did not include the psychiatric diagnosis for the co-pilot, who had 6,500 hours' flying time, and had passed a recent medical examination.
He spent 11 days in Irish mental wards before he was flown back to Canada.
Reader views (2)
Kudos to the stewardess. But, like all stories on this topic, little is added beyond the headline, including her name. Is this a case of the company covering up an unflattering story about their operations, until it is 'safe' to reveal it, and then only revealing the sketchiest outline?
- Jp, Juneau, USA
Should an stewardess with a commercial pilot's license who can accomplish such a feat remain an stewardess? She should be sent to train to fly the sort of passenger jets she successfully handled.
- H W, London
