The captain of a Qatar Airways Airbus A330-300, flight QR645 from Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL) in Manila, Philippines to Doha Airport (DOH) in Qatar died of a heart attack during the flight, on Wednesday morning, October 13.
The copilot took command of the aircraft, diverting to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL) in Malaysia, landing at 11:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday, October 13. Paramedics were unable to revive the man, who was described as an Indian national.
Another Qatar Airways flight crew flew the aircraft from Kuala Lumpur to Doha, the capital of the Qatar, arriving 272 minutes late (4-1/2 hours), according to flight status tracking at FlightSmart.com
Qatar, which has an emirate-type government, is located in the Middle East, bordered by Saudi Arabia and separated by the Persian Gulf from Bahrain. It is rich in oil and natural gas. Al Jazeera, an international news network headquartered in Doha, was among the first media to report the incident.
Qatar Airways said in a statement that its priority "remains the comfort and safety of its passengers and staff". It did not confirm the cause of death, or if the flight was ever at risk.
While rare for a cockpit crew to become incapacitated aloft, according to the British Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), there were 32 incidents during 2009 when pilots were incapacitated during a flight. During 2008, such situations occurred 39 times, caused by food poisoning, nausea and fainting.
The last reported death by a flight crew while airborne happened on June 18, 2009 when a 60-year-old pilot aboard Continental Airlines (CO) flight Flight 61, a Boeing 777-200ER, from Brussels AIrport (BRU) to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) suffered a fatal heart attack at 10:30 a.m. EDT over the Atlantic. The first officer and a relief pilot took over control of the aircraft. None of the 247 passengers on board the plane were aware of the tragedy.
Many commercial aircraft and airports around the world have computerized heart paddle defibrillators available which can deliver a shock to help restore normal cardiac rhythm to persons suffering heart related incidents. It is not yet known whether such equipment was on board the Qatar Airways flight, or if it were deployed.
This journalist was on a Northwest Airlines flight in 2007 from LaGuardia Airport (LGA) to Minneapolis (MSP), which had to return to the gate because a flight crew member had become critically ill. Our sympathies go out to the family, friends, and colleagues of the deceased Qatar Airways captain.
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Comments
You've got an A320 in your "A330" picture.
Thank you for pointing this out. That image has been removed, and others added of Qatar Airways Airbus A330-300 equipment.
That's why we have competent copilots.
The following comment was posted by Jens-Thomas Rueckert on the Linkedin Aviation Link group:
Well so much for the proposal to eliminate co-pilots. Likely someone is going to point out that Ryanair is only flying short haul, but nevertheless, such tragic incidents do happen as we can see.
At least in this case the copilot was able to take over the duties and make a smooth landing. Does anyone happen to know whether the Pilot who suffered that heart attack was PF or PNF ? [PF = Pilot Flying, PNF = Pilot Monitoring]
My reply follows:
That's a good question Jens. I'm digging, but haven't determined that yet. I did find out that his name was Ajay Kukreja, and he was in his early 40s with no history of heart problems. He was asthmatic, and relieved on an inhaler, which he always carried with him. He had eaten a light breakfast a little after takeoff from Manila, and about 1 hour into the flight complained of chest pains, and apparently soon after that, suffered a massive heart attack. He was DOA when the aircraft landed in KUL. An autopsy was performed in Malaysia, confirming myocardial infarction (heart attack) as the cause of death. My guess is that there were underlying medical issues that had not been previously detected, but one never knows. One thing is certain. Life is short.
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