A Lufthansa plane carrying 205 people had no pilot for 10 minutes after the co-pilot fainted, a report has revealed.
The captain had left to use the toilet and the co-pilot was alone in the cockpit, when the incident happened last year.
The unconscious copilot operated controls by mistake during the episode, but the plane was in autopilot and continued to fly in a stable manner, according to a report by Spanish accident investigation authority CIAIAC.
A total of 199 passengers and six crew members were aboard the flight from Frankfurt in Germany to Seville in Spain on February 17, 2024.
The report, seen by German news agency dpa, said sounds consistent with the co-pilot’s ‘sudden and severe incapacitation’ were recorded on the voice recorder when the pilot fainted.
An air-traffic controller tried to make contact with the copilot up to three times, but received no response.
When the captain returned from the bathroom he initially attempted to enter the regular door opening code, which triggers a buzzer in the cockpit so whoever is in there can let the others in.
He did this five times, but with no success. A stewardess also tried to contact the co-pilot using the onboard phone but received no answer.
The captain then typed in the emergency code that would have allowed him to open the door on his own, but just before it opened the co-pilot regained consciousness and let him in.
The co-pilot received first aid from the crew and a passenger who was a doctor, and the pilot diverted the flight to Madrid, where the plane landed 20 minutes later.
The co-pilot was taken to hospital, where he remained for a few hours.
Further investigation into his health, found the fainting was a symptom of a pre-existing neurological condition he was unaware of and had not shown up during an aeronautical medical examination, the report said.
His medical certificate has since been suspended, it added.
The CIAIAC described the incident as an ‘extraordinary circumstance’ and explained that pilots undergo training for situations when another pilot becomes incapacitated.
In-flight incapacitations, including death, are rare but do happen, the authority said.
There were 287 between 2019 and 2024, according to a database of transportation occurrence reports managed by the European Commission, it said.
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