Lost In Saigon

I was also surprised that they just didn't continue on to London.

zorn

The worst possible scenario would be for both pilots to become incapacitated.

So the overriding concern is that there is only one person capable of flying the plane. So it needs to be put on the ground at the earliest possible opportunity. Therefore, the PF puts on an oxygen mask and lands the plane.

RichMSN

Imagine my surprise today when I grabbed an Evening Standard on my way to the tube and saw "a post on flyertalk.com" quoted:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...jet/article.do

It's a sad thing that I'm surprised doesn't happen more often - mainly due to the sheer number of pilots in the sky and the chance of someone having a breakdown not being zero.

TA

but there were more than 2 pilots, for a transatlantic, right?

Stranger

Wasn't this a YYZ flight? So I would not think there was.

From YYC or YVR, yes there would be a reserve pilot. In which case, you would think they might have continued to LHR.

dodo

After his co-pilot's removal, regulations would have required the captain to don his oxygen mask and land at “the nearest suitable aerodrome,” said Yvan-Miville Deschênes, a former flight controller.

“It's standard procedure. When there's only one person left in the cockpit, he puts on an oxygen mask in case the cabin depressurizes,” he said. “Continuing to London would have been a security breach.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...l_gam_mostview

Rejuvenated

Yup. Reply #3 on this very same thread.

roll-x

I think its called common sense and Human Resource confidential information.

nacirema

impossible to do as i witnessed very similar incident back in sep of 07 with my business partner.

I have known this man for years, probably spend more time with him than my gf over the years. a normal, big, healthy, happy go lucky guy, married to a wonderful, beautiful woman for over 20 years, 2 teanage sons, nice house, vacations, cars, boat, etc.

in may of 07 his wife and one of his sons were killed in an automobile accident. If that wasn't enough, he lost some major personal stock investments to a major fraud here in town literally couple of weeks after the tragic accident. then our business took a major dive in mid july (although it has recovered since). His other son was acting up, drugs, alcohol and such.

i did notice that he wasn't himself and perhaps drank little more than he use to, but overall his dedication to the company and his work ethics were unquestionable,

until we flew together mia-lax with aa on a very memorable september morning. i knew something was not right when we checked out of the hotel, but i assumed he was just tired and perhaps distracted by his tragic thoughts. we had a light conversation on the way to and at the airport, although some of it sounded little strange. we boarded the plane, had a breakfast, and started to do our own thing when he just went psychotic. he thought that i along with all our mutual friends were trying to kill him. he thought that all the people in j cabin were our friends and i was the leader.

trust me, pretty scary. the purser contacted the captain, the captain talked to me. we were over dfw at about this time. the purser made an announcement for a doctor. the 4 of us had a brief consultation together and it was decided that the doctor will try to see if he can calm him with the drugs available on board. the captain and aa dfw hdq made a decision to continue on to lax, probably because i was his friend and with the doctor there we all thought that as strange as his behavior was, we can control him. (also, perhaps because the 777 was needed for nrt flight later that day) the doc gave him some over the the counter pills. the doc and his wife were moved up to j and they sat right next to us across the aisle. he calmed down a bit and we made it to lax. we were met by police and paramedics. the police just made a report but my friend started to become more and more irrational so it was decided that emergency room will be his next stop. after few hours there, the doctors decided to baker act him (a mandatory 72 hour hold at a psychatric facility).

he was released 4 days later. he followed up with private medical and psychiatric help and he's back as good as new. the way it was explained to me that he had a nervous breakdown, hearing voices, seeing things, he was depressed, suicidal plus drinking more alcohol and not eating/sleeping regularly contributed to that memorable september morning. trust me, i've never seen anything like it.

my point is this. i work with this guy for 8-10 hours a day. i'm also his best friend, i was with him almost constatntly after the tragic events in may of last year, yet i didn't see it coming, so unless the airlines will make every pilot do an extensive physical/mental check up every few weeks, these things will happen and there is no way to avoid it.

when it comes, it's too late.


the only thing anybody can hope for in this kind of situation is that the person is not too proud to admit that the pressure is building and they need to step up and deal with it. unfortunately in most cases, especially succesful people, are the last to come forward and ask for help, thus contributing even more to the big nervous meltdown.

wsommerv

I know we live in overly paranoid times, but surely he meant safety breach.

Thanks for sharing this. An interesting insight into this type of thing.

Stranger

Definitely.

Original must have been in French, in which case, in this instance, "securite" (with proper accents) should have been translated not as "security" but as "safety."

tcook052

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/...bad5a7&k=56247


Canadian pilots are dealing with more stress and fatigue than ever before, says the union that represents Air Canada's 3,300 pilots.

"Pilots are flying more hours a month, more days a month," Andy Wilson, president of the Air Canada Pilots Association, said Wednesday. "The pressures are greater. It has a cumulative effect."

His comments follow an apparent mental breakdown by an Air Canada co-pilot this week that forced a London-bound flight to land in Shannon, Ireland.

jral

How tragic. That would surely send me over the edge too.

acysb87

nacirema,thanks for sharing your personal experience.

Stranger

Well, I would say, if he were a pilot, that's plenty of signs that there is a serious risk of the guy falling apart. For good reasons too.