An off-duty pilot who just happened to be traveling as a passenger on a recent Westjet flight from Calgary to Vancouver came to the rescue and helped at the controls of the Boeing 737MAX when the First Officer was suddenly taken ill at the controls.
Westjet flight WS129 departed Calgary at around 9:21 pm on December 4 for the short flight to Vancouver, according to the Canadian Transportation Safety Board (TSB), which has just published a brief report into the incident.
The plane had reached its cruise altitude when the First Officer reported feeling ill. The pilot became so unwell that they quickly became ‘incapacitated’ and could not continue their duties, the TSB reports.
In this kind of situation, the Captain would normally consider declaring an emergency and getting the plane on the ground as quickly as possible, but in this case, it was established that an off-duty pilot happened to be flying on the aircraft as a passenger.
The off-duty pilot came to the rescue and took the First Officer’s position in the cockpit while the sickened pilot sat in the cabin for the remainder of the flight.
The Captain decided not to declare an emergency or request a priority landing, and the plane arrived in Vancouver without further incident.
It’s not unusual for pilots to ‘commute’ to and from work as passengers and off-duty pilots have been known to help at the control when one of the rostered flight crew becomes incapacitated.
Last year, there were two such high-profile incidents, including one onboard a Southwest Airlines flight from Las Vegas when a pilot from another airline helped at the controls when the Captain was taken ill.
Shortly after departure, the Captain reported stomach issues and had to be removed from the cockpit by flight attendants to receive medical care. At this point, a passenger who was a pilot for another airline volunteered their assistance.
Southwest Airlines says that the crew checked the credentials of the off-duty pilot, and after these were verified, he was allowed to land the plane on the flight deck.
Several months later, an off-duty Air Canada pilot who was deadheading on a domestic flight from Toronto to St John’s was able to step in and help fly the plane when the First Officer became unwell and was incapacitated.
