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An American Airlines pilot died during a flight from Phoenix to Boston after becoming ill, but the co-pilot was able to safely land the plane.
The co-pilot of American Airlines Flight 550 took control and made an emergency landing in Syracuse, New York Monday morning after the captain began feeling ill, the airline said.
There were 147 passengers and five crew members on board the flight. None of them were injured.
A new crew was sent in to continue the flight to Boston.
The name of the pilot has not been released. American Airlines has not confirmed how he or she died, but did tell ABC News that a flight attendant on board is also a registered nurse and tried to save the pilot.
ABC News also reports that someone on the plane can be heard saying the “captain is incapacitated” and “pilot is unresponsive, not breathing” on traffic control recordings.
The airline released the following statement Monday morning:
“American Airlines Flight 550, an Airbus A320, diverted to Syracuse Hancock International Airport (SYR) early this morning due to pilot illness. Unfortunately, our pilot passed away. We are incredibly saddened by this event, and we are focused on caring for our pilot’s family and colleagues. We are also taking care of our customers and sent a replacement crew to SYR to get them to Boston. The flight originally left Phoenix at 11:55 p.m. local time and landed in SYR at 7:13 a.m. local time. There were 147 passengers and a crew of five.”
Agencies/Canadajournal
