Incapacitated Lufthansa Pilot Was Alone In Flight Deck, Pushing Controls

The Aviation Herald reports on some findings that have just been released regarding a Lufthansa incident from some time ago. The details are kind of shocking.

Lufthansa pilot became incapacitated while alone in flight deck

On February 17, 2024, a Lufthansa Airbus A321 with 205 people onboard operated flight LH1140 from Frankfurt (FRA) to Seville (SVQ), and had to divert to Madrid (MAD). The crew informed air traffic control that the first officer wasn’t feeling well. The plane landed there a short while later, and the plane ended up spending around 5.5 hours on the ground, before continuing to Seville.

Okay, this sounds like a non-event, right? So why am I writing about a random diversion over a year later? Well, Spain’s Civil Aviation Accident and Incident Investigation Commission (CIAIAC — that’s a mouthful!) has issued its report on the incident, and it tells the wild story of what caused the diversion.

Specifically, the first officer became incapacitated while the captain was stretching his legs in the cabin. Furthermore, while incapacitated, the first officer was accidentally pushing buttons and controls! Here are the findings:

• While the plane was at cruising altitude, the captain left the flight deck for a bathroom break
• Before leaving, the two pilots had a conversation about the weather conditions and the operation of the aircraft, without the captain noticing anything unusual in the first officer’s behavior
• The first officer experienced a sudden and severe incapacitation while alone in the flight deck, and was unable to alert the rest of the crew to his condition
• During his incapacitation, the first officer inadvertently operated switches and flight controls
• The autopilot system remained engaged and the flight path was maintained
• After the captain had left the cockpit and the first officer suffered the sudden and severe incapacitation, the aircraft continued to fly for about 10 minutes in the cruise phase, with the autopilot engaged, but without additional supervision by either pilot
• In order to gain access to the flight deck, the captain used the emergency code
• Before the emergency access code timer expired, the co-pilot opened the flight deck door manually from the inside
• In view of the emergency, the captain made the decision to land at the nearest airport

While it happens every so often that a pilot becomes incapacitated, it’s extremely rare for this to happen while the other pilot happens to be on a break, so obviously that’s concerning. What caused the first officer’s health issue? We don’t know exactly, but it was “the manifestation of a symptom of a condition that had not previously been detected.”

For those curious about flight deck access for the captain, the way it works is that there’s a code to enter the flight deck. However, there’s a delay until the flight deck door opens, so that the pilot inside the flight deck can approve or reject the request. Obviously in this case it wasn’t being rejected, but instead, it just wasn’t being approved.

A two-person flight deck rule makes sense, no?

I have zero fear of flying, with one minor thing that sometimes makes me uneasy. The one concern I have about aviation safety is pilot mental health, and specifically, airlines that don’t have a rule of having two people in the flight deck at all time.

Over the years we’ve seen several plane crashes happen due to intentional acts by pilots. Heck, several weeks ago, it was the 10-year anniversary of the crash of Germanwings 9525, where the first officer intentionally crashed the plane while the captain was on a bathroom break.

Thank goodness that in this case the first officer had no bad intentions, and was just incapacitated. But I just can’t wrap my head around how common of a cause this has been over the years (Malaysia Airlines 370, EgyptAir 990, SilkAir 185, and many more), but somehow we’re always so quick to forget.

Am I the only one who just feels more comfortable when there are two people in the flight deck rather than one? At least here in the United States, this is a standard requirement.

Bottom line

A Lufthansa diversion in February 2024 was more dramatic than it initially appeared. We knew a pilot wasn’t feeling well, but there’s a lot more to it. The flight’s first officer became incapacitated while the captain was on a break in the cabin. The first officer even reportedly pushed buttons and flight controls by mistake, though fortunately didn’t disengage the autopilot.

What do you make of this Lufthansa A321 incident?