Corsair A339 over Atlantic on Jan 18th 2022, captain incapacitated
Last Update: September 21, 2023 / 17:02:12 GMT/Zulu time
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Jan 18, 2022
Classification
Incident
Cause
Captain incapacitated
Airline
Corsair
Flight number
SS-925
Departure
Fort de France, Martinique
Destination
Paris Orly, France
Aircraft Registration
F-HHUG
Aircraft Type
Airbus A330-900
ICAO Type Designator
A339
The aircraft remained on the ground for about 13 hours, then continued the flight and reached Paris with a delay of about 13.5 hours.
The French BEA rated the occurrence a serious incident and opened an investigation.
On Sep 21st 2023 the BEA provided some additional abstract:
During a nighttime transatlantic flight between Fort-de-France and Paris-Orly, the CDB felt tired at the end of the climb and lost consciousness shortly after. A few minutes later, the co-pilot noticed that the CDB was not responding to her requests. After two attempts to wake him up, she called for the main purser (CCP) using the emergency phraseology provided in the event of incapacity of one of the flight attendants. The CCP arrived at a time when the CDB was gradually regaining its senses.
An initial analysis carried out by the CCP led the crew to call a doctor present among the passengers who diagnosed a simple vagal discomfort.
After approximately two hours and several successive rests, the CDB's state of health further deteriorated while the plane was in the middle of the Atlantic, approximately equidistant from Fort-de-France and the archipelago. of the Azores.
When the doctor suspected a stroke and informed the co-pilot, she reassigned roles within the crew and decided on an emergency diversion to Lajes (Azores). Even if the hospitalization capacities at the destination proved to be suitable, this criterion was not part of the decision-making process, as the co-pilot did not have this information.
The co-pilot landed in Lajes, where the CDB was taken care of and hospitalized for several days.
The BEA also released their final report in French only (english version and analysis to be published in due time) concluding the factors contributing to the serious incident was:
The captain's (CDB) state of health before the flight and decision to undertake the flight:
The CDB had been feeling tired for several days. During rest in Fort-de-France, he was unable to rest and mentioned headaches. It is likely that before the flight, his state of health had already deteriorated, and it is even possible that he had already suffered an illness of which he would not have been aware.
At no time did he consider that his state of health might not be compatible with the flight.
This illustrates the insidious nature of a subtle incapacity, and the difficulty of self-assessment of one's own state of health for a crew member faced with the responsibility of not being able to carry out their mission.
Decision to continue the flight
When the pilot-in-command first lost consciousness, the co-pilot questioned the continuation of the flight and asked the CDB for his intentions. The CDB's fitness for duty was not called into question there was no transfer of responsibility, and the CDB decided to continue the flight. The co-pilot did not object on the basis of several factors:
- the pilot had come to his senses and was behaving normally;
- the pilot was positive about his ability to continue the flight;
- referring to the Safety Rescue Manual (MSS), the cabin crew did not associate the symptoms observed to be life-threatening;
- the doctor on board associated the symptoms initially observed with a probable vagal malaise: her diagnosis was reassuring.
The initial lack of reaction from the cabin crew when the co-pilot tried to wake them up was not considered a sufficient warning sign to declare him incapacitated, as were the two subsequent subsequent requests for rest.
This illustrates the difficulty of identifying and confirming partial or temporary incapacitation, and consequently to decide on the transfer of the CDB function as provided for in the operators' procedures.
OPS situational awareness
Communications between the co-pilot and the OPS were ensured by the crew of flight CRL927. Listening to these communications indicates that the crew of CRL297 were convinced that the diagnosis had been diagnosis had been established in consultation with the SAMU and passed on this erroneous information to the to the OPS, who no longer had direct contact with the co-pilot.
While this relay relieved the co-pilot's workload, it reduced the situational awareness of the OPS, who had no direct contact with the co-pilot.
OPS who did not suggest that the co-pilot contact the SAMU.
Copilot workload management
The co-pilot was helped to manage the flight by the cabin crew's cohesion and calm. In particular, the CCP and the cabin crew present in the cockpit assisted her effectively in the course of the flight.
Conversely, the failure of the ACARS printer overburdened the co-pilot in managing the diversion.
She explained that, in particular, she was unable to obtain direct updates
and had to rely on a relay to obtain them.
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Jan 18, 2022
Classification
Incident
Cause
Captain incapacitated
Airline
Corsair
Flight number
SS-925
Departure
Fort de France, Martinique
Destination
Paris Orly, France
Aircraft Registration
F-HHUG
Aircraft Type
Airbus A330-900
ICAO Type Designator
A339
This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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