Over a 10-year period, 12 aircraft crashes were likely caused by a pilot experiencing a heart attack, with most involving a solo pilot.
A significant number of these accidents stemmed from pilots concealing serious, disqualifying cardiac and other medical conditions from the FAA, often with fatal consequences.
In the documented instances, there was only one rare case where passengers successfully landed an aircraft after the pilot became incapacitated due to a heart attack.
At a recent dinner gathering, a few days after the wonderfully well-omened US Airways ditching in the Hudson, when several guests had been grilling me about bird strikes and ditching procedures, someone commented that her worst nightmare was being in an airplane when the pilot had a heart attack.
“How often,” another guest asked me, “does that happen?”
CREATE A FREE ACCOUNT
Sign up to keep reading
Create a free account to continue. Already a member? Sign in below.
Peter Garrison taught himself to use a slide rule and tin snips, built an airplane in his backyard, and flew it to Japan. He began contributing to FLYING in 1968, and he continues to share his columns, ""Technicalities"" and ""Aftermath,"" with FLYING readers.
