A shocking incident came to light in a flight of Germany's well-known airline company Lufthansa. The flight was going from Frankfurt, Germany to Seville, Spain. When the plane was at an altitude of about 36 thousand feet, at that time it kept flying in the sky without a pilot. This happened not for 1-2 minutes but for about 10 minutes.
This incident is of 17 february 2024. Only the co-pilot was present in the cockpit of Lufthansa's A321 flight, who suddenly fainted. There were 199 passengers and 6 crew members on board the plane at that time. This information has been given by German news agency DPA quoting the report of Spain's aviation accident investigation agency CIAIAC.
When the co-pilot fainted, the captain had gone to the washroom outside the cockpit. During this time the entire plane was flying on autopilot mode. Fortunately, the autopilot system helped the plane to fly in a stable and controlled manner. However, sounds recorded in the cockpit voice recorder indicated that there was a serious health emergency in the cockpit. An air hostess on the plane tried to call the co-pilot in the cockpit, but there was no response.
The captain opened the door with the emergency code
The captain of the plane used the regular security code five times to return to the cockpit, which caused the buzzer inside and the pilot to open the door, but the door did not open due to the co-pilot being unconscious. Finally, the captain used the emergency override code, which opened the door automatically after a delay of a few seconds.
However, before the door could open, the co-pilot regained consciousness and opened the door himself. He was in a very ill condition inside. After this, sensing the situation, the captain decided to make an emergency landing in Madrid. Where the co-pilot was immediately admitted to the hospital.
Lufthansa conducted an internal investigation, but did not disclose
According to the DPA report, Lufthansa is aware of the incident and its flight safety team has conducted an investigation on its own. However, the company has not made the findings of this investigation public. Aviation experts say that if the autopilot had not been activated, the situation could have been even more serious. This incident highlights the risks of cockpit operation in the sole presence of the co-pilot.
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