Swiss A343 near Caen on Nov 1st 2015, first officer incapacitated
Last Update: May 28, 2021 / 10:50:46 GMT/Zulu time
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Nov 1, 2015
Classification
Incident
Airline
Swiss
Flight number
LX-53
Departure
Boston, United States
Destination
Zurich, Switzerland
Aircraft Registration
HB-JMC
Aircraft Type
Airbus A340-300
ICAO Type Designator
A343
Switzerland's SUST reported a member of the crew became incapacitated about one hour prior to landing in Zurich, an investigation into the occurrence has been opened.
On May 28th 2021 Switzerland's SUST released their factual summary report in German only (Editorial note: to serve the purpose of global prevention of the repeat of causes leading to an occurrence an additional timely release of all occurrence reports in the only world spanning aviation language English would be necessary, a German only release does not achieve this purpose as set by ICAO annex 13 and just forces many aviators to waste much more time and effort each in trying to understand the circumstances leading to the occurrence. Aviators operating internationally are required to read/speak English besides their local language, investigators need to be able to read/write/speak English to communicate with their counterparts all around the globe).
The SUST concludes:
This serious incident has been caused by the first officer becoming incapacitated for medical reasons, so that the captain had to conclude the flight as single pilot operation. The cordings of cockpit voice and flight data recorder as well as radar recordings do not show any difficulties or anomalies during any phase of the flight. The commander operated goal-directed and saferty minded.
The SUST reported the first officer consumed breakfast about 75 minutes prior to estimated landing and subsequently went to the lavatory. While at the lavatory he began to feel unwell and noticed trouble in coordinating his movements. He returned to the cockpit but didn ot take the right hand seat, but sat down in the observer's seat and advised the captain and flight attendant. The commander instructed the first officer to be taken to the crew bunk immediately aft of the cockpit after the first officer hinted he was dizzy. Via the public address system assistance by a doctor was requested. A doctor responded and took care of the first officer until landing.
The captain consulted with the doctor advising her he could land in Paris (France) in about 25 minutes, landing in Zurich would take about 40 minutes, he preferred Zurich because all procedures were well known and immediate treatment of the first officer would have been assured. The doctor agreed with Zurich. The captain thus decided to continue to Zurich and increased flying speed to high speed. The captain informed the operations center via ACARS about the incpaacitation of the first officer and requested an ambulance to meet them after landing. The operations center subsequently confirmed receiving the message, ambulance would be ready and ATC had been informed and would handle them with priority.
The captain declared PAN PAN advising the flight was operating single pilot due to the incapacitation of the first officer. The flight was cleared to descend and fly direct to TRA (Trasadingen VOR) and to expect landing on runway 14. The commander worked the final landing checklist and completed the landing on autopilot and taxied the aircraft to the apron, where paramedics received the first officer and took him to a hospital.
The medical examinations could not determine the exact cause of the sudden incapacitation, it could hardly have been detected or treated earlier.
The crew assessed the health condition of the first officer as critical and acted in their assessment and decision making with the aim to ensure quickest possible medical assistance after landing.
Aircraft Registration Data
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Nov 1, 2015
Classification
Incident
Airline
Swiss
Flight number
LX-53
Departure
Boston, United States
Destination
Zurich, Switzerland
Aircraft Registration
HB-JMC
Aircraft Type
Airbus A340-300
ICAO Type Designator
A343
This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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