Pilot suffers cardiac arrest in flight
 

Apologies if this has been covered here already. I searched but did not find it. Austrian newssite (news.ORF.at) reported United Airlines Flight 1603 (737) en route from Houston to Seattle diverted to Boise, Idaho after one of the pilots suffered a cardiac arrest. CPR performed by two physicians travelling on the plane. Negative final outcome, it appears. Very sad and unfortunate.
CBS has something now, too: Pilot suffers heart attack in mid air, plane diverts to Boise - CBS 5 - KPHO

I heard it this morning on the TV news (in Seattle). One of the passengers interviewed said they got down to Boise pretty fast (20 minutes) after the incident began.

What is the policy of airlines carrying AEDs (automated defibrillators) onboard?

Copied and pasted from another news outlet..

Passenger Ken Martin says a woman sitting next to him volunteered to help perform CPR because she is a first year resident doctor. She told Martin the pilot was a heavy man, weighing more than 300 pounds, and they had to move him out of the cockpit and into the first class cabin to perform CPR.

Perhaps with some pilots electing to fly past 60 and others "obese" perhaps it's time the likes of FAA, TC, JAA actually take these medicals seriously... A 300 lbs pilot should not be at control of an airplane in my mind. Give them a gym membership and a few months off, get below a threshold and have the company Docs continue to monitor his condition and progress. Overweight is one thing but 300 lbs (unless he is 8 foot tall) is not good at all.

It is very sad that this gentleman had to lose his life over it, and I know not everyone is into fitness and proper diet with the same interest as others but there really should be a minimum acceptable level and once surpassed you have to get yourself back to that minimum healthy (ish) standard in order to fly... With the sedentary lifestyle that pilots are at risk of falling into I think everyone should do a better job from us as pilots, to our unions/pilot associations and the companies in order to promote better health.

Some guys take the Age 65 Fly 'til you die approach a little too seriously.

The assumption that because he, was overweight, gave him a heart attack is nonsense. In the past 35-45 year old pilots have had attacks and in a more or less a fit conditions. You can come out of a medical, walk up some stairs and have a stroke. Not very usual but, it can happen and has in the past. At the moment of your medical and if deemed fit, pass all the checks, you are legally ok to fly. In this case, 300lbs. seems a bit on the heavy side but, there again, how tall, fit etc. was this individual? In any case sad and terrible for his family, friends and colleagues.

In contrast, Arnold Schwarzenegger, at his heaviest back in 1974' weighed in at around 245lbs.

It's not like we didn't already know this but just in case....

Quote from a paper called "Obesity and Cardiovascular DiseaseRisk Factor, Paradox, and Impact of Weight Loss" from JACC Journals.

Still a very sad story for the involved people and family.

If you guys start going after the heavier folks, you will have to go after the smokers too

This is exactly why they should get rid of the medical requirements completely. They can't predict it even in the most stringent class - the class 1 medical holders!

Pilot suffers cardiac arrest in flight
 

It is unfortunate, maybe a pilot that was lighter and easier to get out of the cockpit would have stood a better chance with CPR being administered sooner.

In other words: in 50% of the cases of coronary heart disease, the first symptom is sudden death.

Adam

Correct. An ECG can detect heart irregularities, etc. It cannot predict HF. You can pass an ECG at a class 1 medical and drop dead an hour later.


Una

I don't think smokers should be allowed near an aircraft. They not only have physiological issues, they have psychological issues also. If they don't take their own well being seriously, then how the hell can I expect them to have a passengers' well being in mind. Addicts should be treated and cured before being allowed to have a class 1.

Well this coming from the airline that didn't hire a former space shuttle commander(too much of an ego) but packed the cockpits with all the affirmative action 200 hrs they could find off the bottom of the resume pile.

It's criminally unproffessional and irresponsible to have obese pilots in the cockpit. Not only is it a statement on the pilot who was unhealthy, possibly in denial about his health problems, an addiction to food, but an organization that supports stuffing anyone into the cockpit that will play ball and fit their socially engineered concept of 'getting along'.

Well, he does have an ego but at least he went to a profitable airline and avoided bankrupt UAL. And, as Walt Whitman, Dizzy Dean, George Jones and others have observed, 'if you done it, it ain't bragging'. ;)

See: The Man Who?s Flown Everything | Flight Today | Air & Space Magazine

Well he was former Continental, an Air Force guy close to retirement, does that make it clearer for you ?

Awesome job on the assumptions !

Exactly the same logic applies to the Obese, of course

Local news is reporting he was 63.

I'll get my popcorn....

Yup, you may as well Huck, they will be along soon!

Being aviation it is high profile and got appropriate publicity because it happened 'in the saddle', what got a lot less publicity was the legacy carrier SFO who, on the same day, at the age of forty two, dropped dead on the golf course! (also cardiac arrest).

This from the great journalistic site, "Huffington Post:"

The captain was piloting United Flight 1603 from Houston to Seattle when the emergency occurred Thursday forcing an off-duty pilot to take over control of the plane.

Yeah, right.