Flight attendant helped land Air Canada 767

[FrugalFlyerv2.0]

Full story in Toronto Star

An Air Canada co-pilot who suffered an apparent breakdown during a transatlantic flight earlier this year was replaced in the cockpit by a flight attendant before an emergency landing was attempted, according to a report released today by Irish authorities.
........
The report, which offers the first glimpse at what went on inside the cockpit during the unsettling incident, claims the flight attendant had a commercial pilot's license and was able to provide "useful assistance" to the captain during the Boeing 767's descent into an airport in Shannon, Ireland.
.........
The captain also asked flight attendants to see if there were any Air Canada pilots on board who could assist him during the landing. With none available, the captain requested that one of the flight attendants who possessed a commercial pilot's license join him in the cockpit during the emergency landing.
...........
The report said the plane's crew should be "commended for their professionalism" in their handling of the incident.

 

[nycbusdriver]

Co-Pilot Disabled, Attendant Helped Land Jet, Irish Report Says
New York Times 11/20/2008
Author: Associated Press
c. 2008 New York Times Company
Picture (Metafile)
DUBLIN (AP) — An Air Canada co-pilot having a mental breakdown had to be forcibly removed from the cockpit, restrained and sedated early this year, and a flight attendant with flying experience helped the pilot safely make an emergency landing, an Irish investigation concluded Wednesday.

The report by Ireland’s Air Accident Investigation Unit into an episode in January applauded the decision-making of the pilot and the cockpit skills of the flight attendant, who stepped into the co-pilot’s seat for the emergency diversion to Shannon Airport in western Ireland.

None of the 146 passengers or other nine crew members on board the Boeing 767 bound from Toronto to London were injured after the 58-year-old co-pilot had to be removed by attendants and sedated by two doctors on board.

The report did not identify any of the Air Canada crew members by name. Nor did it specify the psychiatric diagnosis for the co-pilot, who was hospitalized for 11 days in Irish mental health wards before being flown by air ambulance back to Canada.

It said the co-pilot was a licensed veteran with more than 6,500 hours of flying time, about half on board Boeing 767s, and had recently passed a medical examination.

But it said the pilot noticed immediately that his co-pilot was not in good professional shape on the day of the flight, arriving late to the cockpit after all the safety checks and paperwork had been completed. He reported that the co-pilot’s behavior worsened once they were airborne. The pilot advised the co-pilot to take a lengthy break for naps and a meal.

As the aircraft reached the middle of the Atlantic, the report said, the co-pilot began talking in a “rambling and disjointed†manner, took another nap, and then refused to buckle his seat belt or observe other safety procedures when he returned to the cockpit.

The pilot concluded that his colleague was now so “belligerent and uncooperative†that he could not do his job.
The report said that the pilot summoned several flight attendants to remove the co-pilot from the cockpit, and that one flight attendant injured a wrist in the struggle. Doctors from Britain and Canada on board determined that the co-pilot was confused and disoriented.

The report did not mention how the co-pilot had been restrained. Departing passengers at the time said his arms and legs had been tied up to keep him under control.

The pilot then asked flight attendants to find out if any passenger was a qualified pilot. When no one was found, one flight attendant disclosed that she held a current commercial pilot’s license, but that her license for reading cockpit instruments had expired.

“The flight attendant provided useful assistance to the commander, who remarked in a statement to the investigation that she was ‘not out of place’ while occupying the right-hand seat,†the report said.

The NY Times story has a bit more information which is quite puzzling. Evidently the Toronto-London 767 is crewed with only two pilots if the f/a had to sit in. This is done frequently with flights that are under 8 hours. But then who sat in for the f/o when the captain sent him on his nap/meal break, or did he simply snooze in the cockpit? Maybe Canadian regs are different, but sleeping in the control seat is (I thought) a huge "NO NO!"

Can any Canadian airline pilots weigh in on this seeming (to me) discrepancy? Or did the Times simply make up these details? (I find that hard to believe, but not outside the realm of possibility.)

 

[jimntx]

What I find more interesting is how long it took this incident to come to light. Evidently, Canadian government officials and airline employees are a lot more circumspect in their public statements when an incident is under investigation.

 

[FrugalFlyerv2.0]

What I find more interesting is how long it took this incident to come to light.

IIRC, the incident was reported by the media back in January, but Irish authorities just completed their investigation.