A Lufthansa plane flew for about 10 minutes without a pilot when the co-pilot became incapacitated while the captain was outside the cockpit during a flight last February, according to Spain’s Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility.
The flight on Feb. 17, 2024, from Frankfurt, Germany, to Seville, Spain — an Airbus A321 carrying 199 passengers and six crew members — was over the Iberian Peninsula when the captain left the flight deck to go to the bathroom. Shortly afterward, the 38-year-old co-pilot “suffered a sudden and severe incapacitation,” a report from the Ministry of Transport said.
The report ultimately concluded that the plane “flew for about 10 minutes in the cruise phase with the autopilot engaged but without additional supervision by either pilot.”
When the captain was finished in the bathroom, he could not get back into the cockpit, according to the report. The door to the cockpit can only be opened from the inside, so to get back in, the captain would have to enter a code that would then alert the person inside the cockpit to open the door for them.
The captain entered the code several times but still couldn’t get into the flight deck. When a crew member tried to contact the co-pilot from the intercom, there was no response. The captain then used the emergency code — which would have unlocked the door after a short delay — to try to get into the flight deck, but before the delay expired, the co-pilot opened the door from the inside to let him in.
The captain noticed the co-pilot was “pale, sweating and moving strangely,” according to the report, so he was given first aid by a crew member and a doctor who happened to be traveling on the flight as a passenger. That doctor diagnosed the co-pilot with a possible heart condition, the report said.
The investigation into the incident concluded the co-pilot’s incapacitation was “the symptom of a neurological condition that had not been detected either by the affected person himself or in the previous aeronautical medical examinations.”
The report found that the co-pilot lost consciousness so suddenly, he didn’t have time to warn other crew members.
While the co-pilot was incapacitated, he inadvertently hit several switches in the cockpit, including increasing pressure on one of the foot pedals, according to the report. This caused a 2-degree roll and a 5-degree heading change, both of which were fixed by the plane’s autopilot, which remained on the whole time.
About two minutes elapsed from the time the captain first tried to get back into the cockpit to when the door was finally opened, according to the report.
The captain diverted the plane to the nearest airport, which was Adolfo Suárez Madrid Barajas Airport, where the flight landed safely about 20 minutes later. The co-pilot did not return to the cockpit for the rest of the flight.
The co-pilot’s condition would not have been found during medical screenings unless he was actively experiencing symptoms at the time or had previously experienced them, the report said. The co-pilot’s medical certificate was suspended after the flight, with the report noting: “This illness is disqualifying for obtaining or maintaining medical fitness to fly.”
Lufthansa did not immediately respond to CBS News’ request for comment.
Jordan Freiman
Jordan Freiman is a news editor for CBSNews.com. He covers breaking news, trending stories, sports and crime. Jordan has previously worked at Spin and Death and Taxes.
Kathryn Krupnik
contributed to this report.
