Passengers on a flight across America who faced danger when the pilot suddenly fell ill were rescued by a chance in a million, when one of the passengers on board turned out to be an off-duty pilot.
A Southwest Airlines flight was brought safely back to Nevada two hours after take-off from Las Vegas on Wednesday following the dramatic mid-air incident. The pilot, who works for a different airline, provided help mainly with radio communications while the Southwest Airline co-pilot took control of the aircraft.
In a statement, a spokesman for Southwest Airlines said: “The flight landed safely, and an alternate flight crew is operating the flight to CMH (Columbus). We commend the crew for their professionalism and appreciate our customers’ patience and understanding regarding the situation.”
The heroic pilot who stood in for the incapacitated flight crew member has not been named, nor has the airline that employs him. The flight's captain who fell was also not named and his present condition is unknown.
The troubled flight — Number 6013 from Las Vegas to Columbus in Ohio — headed over southern Utah, just north of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, before eventually returning to Las Vegas to pick up the reserve crew.
The incident is likely to be reported to the National Transportation Safety Board for operational reasons. However, according to an article published in The Independent, the board is already investigating a number of recent close calls, including a "near-miss" between another Southwest Airlines plane and a FedEx flight above Austin in Texas, where the aircraft came within 100ft of each other. It is also looking at a "runway incursion" at John F Kennedy Airport in New York, involving an American Airlines flight.
The agency called a safety summit last week following six runway incursions in the past three months. One report stated that a Southwest Airlines jet taking off at a Baltimore airport in Maryland came within feet of running into an ambulance that was crossing the runway, allegedly without authorisation.
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The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday issued renewed safety warnings to airlines, flight crew and ground staff stressing the importance of "continued vigilance and attention to mitigation of safety risks” following the series of close calls. “While the overall numbers do not reflect an increase in incidents and occurrences, the potential severity of these events is concerning,” the FAA added.
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