An off-duty pilot flying as a passenger helped take control of a Southwest jet after the captain suffered a medical emergency, becoming incapacitated.
According to U.S. Freedom Flyers co-founder Josh Yoder, the captain reportedly became incapacitated shortly after takeoff on a flight departing from Las Vegas Wednesday morning.
“I’m being notified by passengers on a Southwest flight departing Las Vegas that the captain became incapacitated soon after takeoff this morning,” Yoder said.
“He was removed from the flight deck and replaced by a non Southwest pilot who was commuting on that flight.”
“This is now the fifth pilot incapacitation that I’m aware of in the past two weeks. I will post more details as they become available,” he added.
The incident occurred during Southwest Flight 6013 from Las Vegas, Nevada to Columbus, Ohio.
“Please provide public comment regarding the pilot incapacitation that happened this morning on Southwest 6013 departing LAS. How are those vaccine mandates working out for you?” Yoder said on Twitter, tagging Southwest Airlines.
“FAA has no plans to investigate any of these vaccine injuries. What is it going to take? A plane crash??? Susan Northrup should be fired now. Get someone who cares about public and pilot safety in the role now before it is too late. FAA is ignoring this and Pete Buttigieg is asleep at the wheel,” Steve Kirsch commented.
In January, Kirsch reported that Biden’s FAA quietly widened the EKG parameter range for pilots “so they wouldn’t be grounded”.
“In the October 2022 version of the FAA Guide for Aviation Medical Examiners, the FAA quietly widened the EKG parameters beyond the normal range (from a PR max of .2 to unlimited). And they didn’t widen the range by a little. They widened it by a lot. It was done after the vaccine rollout,” Kirsch wrote.
Breaking Digest has reported several prior incidents in which pilots have suffered medical emergencies.
An Emirates flight from Milan to New York’s JFK had to make an emergency landing due to the First Officer feeling “unwell” approximately an hour and a half after take-off.
A British Airways pilot died suddenly after suffering a heart attack shortly before he was due to captain a packed commercial flight from Cairo, Egypt to London’s Heathrow.
A United Airlines flight from Guatemala to Chicago was forced to divert to Houston Airport after a pilot suffered an unexpected medical emergency.
The first officer of a Virgin Australia regional flight from Adelaide to Perth became incapacitated after suffering a heart attack 30 minutes into the flight, according to The Aviation Herald.
