LATAM 787 Pilot Dies in Flight

[Lake1952]

https://avherald.com/h?article=50d125d6&opt=0

[NoelEvans]

Any ideas on age?

[Lake1952]

Any ideas on age?
The deceased pilot was reportedly 56. One report has him collapsing while in the lavatory. There were two other pilots on board.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12413383/LATAM-pilot-Ivan-Andaur-56-collapses-dies-lavatory-Boeing-787-Dreamliner-flying-Miami-Chile-two-pilots-forced-make-emergency-landing-Nurse-tried-save-says-didnt-necessary-supplies.html

[Chgoquad]

according to this nypost article one of the passengers who treated him said they didn't have the "necessary equipment" onboard to save him. do you think she is talking about an AED? do non-US carriers not have those as standard? seems like poor planning.

nypost dot com /2023/08/16/pilot-dies-on-latam-flight-to-chile-forcing-emergency-landing/

[MJA Chaser]

according to this nypost article one of the passengers who treated him said they didn't have the "necessary equipment" onboard to save him. do you think she is talking about an AED? do non-US carriers not have those as standard? seems like poor planning.

nypost dot com /2023/08/16/pilot-dies-on-latam-flight-to-chile-forcing-emergency-landing/
Who knows. An AED will only be of help in a cardiac arrest. Plenty of other things can cause sudden death where an AED is of no use. Stroke, aneurism etc etc

[DaveReidUK]

Plenty of other things can cause sudden death where an AED is of no use. Stroke, aneurism etc etc

I'd be inclined to believe the nurse who was one of the medics on board that tried to save the pilot, who described his symptoms as indicative of a cardiac arrest.

[MJA Chaser]

I'd be inclined to believe the nurse who was one of the medics on board that tried to save the pilot, who described his symptoms as indicative of a cardiac arrest.
So would I, but I never saw that bit...

[Magplug]

There are several types of cardiac arrest. In the case of ventricular tachycardia (beating too fast) or ventricular fibrillation (fast & irregular) swift intervention with an AED can save life. I have had 3 medical emergencies onboard where the crew administered the AED only to be told "Do Not Shock" as the device figured out for itself that the patient was not one the 'shockable' conditions. I am told by a doctor friend that in general, the chances of surviving a heart attack outside a hospital environment are fairly low.

[vilas]

There were two more cases in the week in India. One apparent in good health and 51years old Indian pilot wth Qatar Airways travelling as passenger.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.timesofindia.com/india/indigos-nagpur-pune-flights-pilot-collapses-at-boarding-gate-declared-dead-in-hospital/amp_articleshow/102800554.cms

[Captivep]

There are several types of cardiac arrest. In the case of ventricular tachycardia (beating too fast) or ventricular fibrillation (fast & irregular) swift intervention with an AED can save life. I have had 3 medical emergencies onboard where the crew administered the AED only to be told "Do Not Shock" as the device figured out for itself that the patient was not one the 'shockable' conditions. I am told by a doctor friend that in general, the chances of surviving a heart attack outside a hospital environment are fairly low.
I speak as someone with personal experience of an out of hospital heart attack; I had a 5% chance of survival. Luckily, though, I collapsed about 10 feet away from an off duty paramedic who began CPR within seconds, after sending someone to collect an AED from a nearby pharmacy. Within six minutes, I was awake and lucid (albeit with a very sore ribcage!).

I understand that the AED is not used to re-start the heart (as I suspect most of us thought) but actually to stop it from the fibrillation that occurs, enabling the heart to re-start its normal rhythm.

Moral of this story; as many people as possible should learn how to do CPR...

[Lake1952]

An AED can take care of ventricular fibrillation, but if the underlying cause of the abnormal rhythm remains present, the afflicted individual may immediately revert back into the lethal rhythm. If the left main coronary artery is occluded, the main pumping muscle of the heart is disrupted. It may be a shockable rhythm, but to no avail.

[Uplinker]

Yes most people think that a heart attack stops the heart and the electric machine with the metal pads applies an electric shock to re-start the heart.

It's the other way round. The heart can go into a state where it trembles rather than beats properly, so the blood circulation effectively stops, starving the brain and body of oxygen from the lungs. A defibrillator stops the heart completely and then after a pause, the normal biological heart timing and triggering mechanism hopefully starts again and beats the heart normally.

The AED is a device that will analyse the heart's electrical rhythm from electrical pads stuck onto the chest - (like in your Class 1 medical). But then, if the AED 'sees' fibrillation, or a significantly abnormal rhythm; it may advise that it will apply a shock to stop the heart - applied via the same pads. Then it looks and assesses the rhythm of the restarted heart and possibly advises another shock or no further (AED) action.

[hoistop]

There are several types of cardiac arrest. In the case of ventricular tachycardia (beating too fast) or ventricular fibrillation (fast & irregular) swift intervention with an AED can save life. I have had 3 medical emergencies onboard where the crew administered the AED only to be told "Do Not Shock" as the device figured out for itself that the patient was not one the 'shockable' conditions. I am told by a doctor friend that in general, the chances of surviving a heart attack outside a hospital environment are fairly low.

I worked with doctors and meds on various emergencies for many years and have some medics training where I was told that our average is 25 - 33% success rate with AED use. Sounds low, but this is reality. I have a good friend who suddenly collapsed among his friends. He looked as in perfect health at his early 40ties. They did everything perfect, utilized AED and even he was in total cardiac arrest, he left hospital 2 weeks later and is still going on well - 15 years after incident. So, do not give up!!!