Originally Posted by
G0ULI
I fully accept the crew acted in accordance with their training but question the decision to return to the departure airport rather than landing at the nearest available airport for the pilot to receive urgent medical attention. Nothing to do with the costs of providing accomodation and an onward flight for the passengers I suppose? Bean counters strike again. Heathrow is a pretty busy airport for single pilot operations, although a Pan call would facilitate matters.
Nearest suitable airport is not necessarily the closest in straight-line distance. Suitable isn't just talking about 'can the aircraft safely land there', it's talking about a whole load of factors, which you take into account or disregard, depending on the severity of the situation. If it is very critical, you disregard all but the flight safety factors. If it is not so critical and there are many options available, you can begin to consider operational/commercial aspects, such as replacement aircraft/crew, engineering cover, pax/ac handling etc.
Especially for a big aircraft (i.e. long haul) you have to factor in things like altitude, weight (actual and max landing), fuel (and fuel dump rate if applicable) before making your decision.
If it takes you 30 minutes to dump a necessary amount of fuel and a further 20 minutes to get down from altitude you have a lot of time to travel a lot of distance. Returning to ADEP is a pretty reasonable decision rather than dropping into somewhere in Ireland.