Air Canada passengers start praying after pilot becomes ‘incapacitated’: ‘Moment the plane swerved, I knew something was wrong’

An Air Canada Airbus A220 taxis at the Calgary International Airport on Thursday April 25, 2024. Gavin Young/Postmedia Gavin Young/Postmedia

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Passengers on board an Air Canada flight on Wednesday have described how they “instantly started praying” when the plane swerved violently, following a reported medical emergency.

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Flight AC7664, which was being operated by regional partner PAL Airlines, was en route from Newark, New Jersey, to Halifax when it was diverted to Boston Logan Airport after the pilot reportedly became incapacitated.

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Rodney McDonald, who was among the 61 passengers on board, told ABC News that it appeared the pilot had suffered a seizure during the flight.

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“The moment the plane swerved, I knew something was wrong because it was not turbulence,” McDonald, who was travelling with his wife and two sons, told the outlet.

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“The flight started swerving violently. It really felt like someone had jilted the controls, and then it happened over and over again,” he added.

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“And, you know, every thought goes through your mind, you start praying. My boys instantly started praying.”

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McDonald described how he rushed to help the pilot, who had been dragged out of the cockpit by a flight attendant.

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“(I) realized that the pilot was out of control physically, not violently, like it was clear that he was not in control of his faculties and needed to be restrained,” he said.

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“(We) worked to get him under control, it was a fairly strenuous 40 minutes of keeping him down and using as many seatbelts as we could to restrain his legs, arms and chest.”

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McDonald said a registered nurse on board helped direct passengers and assist the pilot, adding: “The flight attendants were stupendous. They stayed calm.”

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According to flight tracking service FlightAware, the aircraft was diverted to Boston at approximately 1:26 p.m., roughly 45 minutes into the journey.

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“Pilot is incapacitated. Aircraft is being flown by the co-pilot,” Broadcastify audio, obtained by ABC, revealed. The flight landed safely just before 2 p.m.

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The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) explains that having two pilots on the flight deck is “crucial” for safety in events such as this, citing two separate incidents that occurred on November 19, 2022 — a significant bird strike on a Delta Airlines flight and a pilot becoming unresponsive on an Envoy Air flight — in which “having two pilots on the flight deck was absolutely crucial to the aircraft’s safe and successful landing during an emergency.”

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Video from ABC affiliate WCVB appeared to show first responders removing the pilot from the aircraft after it landed in Boston. Authorities said the pilot was then transported to hospital, where he is receiving medical treatment, the outlet reported.

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The flight then took off from Boston just after 7:20 p.m., and arrived in Halifax just before 9:30 p.m., according to FlightAware.

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National Post has reached out to Air Canada for comment.

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