Stewardess demoted to First Officer
 

Nice little report at Cabin attendant aided 767 landing after co-pilot incapacitated: inquiry
about an Air Canada 76 captain who noticed the first officer was getting unwell.

There were no off-duty or positioning pilots on board, but one of the stewardesses had a CPL and out-of-currency IR. The best that the skipper (who seems to have handled the whole situation very well) can muster to compliment his co-opted right hand seat assistant was that she was "not out of place" there.

Well done all concerned. No news about the real first officer's recovery, though.

Why would you sully an already unfortunate event, that was very well managed by the Captain, by giving the thread such a ridiculous title?

A pilot is a pilot ---

If he managed to put out a 'Is there a qualified pilot on board?' call without causing total pandemonium, then he handled it very well indeed.

Sounds very well handled to me.

As an frequent flyer with a PPL and a little experience of line SOPs in a sim (so having a basic grasp of how a big jet is operated), I wonder how many airlines train certain flight attendants to assist the remaining pilot in the event of such an incident?

I would have thought that someone from the company, familar with procedures and trained to assist, for example, with checklists would be potentially very useful, even if the remaining pilot could manage by themselves.

Who was pilot flying:p???

Just think how much money the airlines save by not having flight engineers.

Sounds like something of an arranged situation imho.

Reminds me of a joke......
 

Years back, a Pan Am 74 on final into JFK, Captain flying, FO 'notices' PF slumped over. He dutifully takes control, lands and taxis to the gate uneventfully. Next day at the employee cafeteria, most employees were discussing this event. A table of Captains were discussing how "....it's amazing the First Officer knew how to land the plane......". At another table full of FOs' the discussion was how they all "......couldn't believe the FO realized the Captain was incapacitated...." :eek:

Bet he didn't let her touch anything...... Just read the checklist:ugh:

I think the Capt was extremely fortunate to have a stewardess amongst his cabin crew team who held a CPL, that must be a very rare thing.

Calling for a pilot over the PA I would imagine would be very disturbing for the pax. It is pretty disturbing when we hear the call for a medical doctor over the PA.

Perhaps the heading of this thread should be Stewardess promoted to First Officer instead of demoted. I am sure she was very useful as it would have been unlikely a 767 type rated pilot would have been amongst the pax.

A reminder, too, of the young male CC who tried to intervene on the Helios 737.

Pity, he wasn't as successful . . . . . . .:sad:

Me thinks the title of the thread is very much 'Tongue in Cheek', no matter good result regardless

Great story , Great CRM or TRM, and like previously stated "a pilot is a pilot". Well done to all concerned.

Nothing wrong with the thread title if you have a sense of humour. :ouch:

Are you lot for real?? :rolleyes:

No pilot will ask over the PA whether there is another pilot on board.... And they would not need one.

The Helios Accident had both pilots incapacitated..

Standard SOP in an incapacitation is for the other pilot to land the aircraft and, if necessary, to ask a cabin crew member to read the checklist..... Why would you ever need someone to "help to fly the aircraft??" :=

A slightly more sensational version of events
 

Flight attendant forced to land plane after co-pilot suffers mental breakdown - Times Online

Comes good (well better) in the end but the headline and first para give a rather different view of the incident.

There isn't really an SOP for this type of situation, in that it isn't really "Standard". There are certainly basic principals to be applied, but the nature of the emergency would dictate the methodology employed as in this case.

For this situation it might well have been appropriate, but generally speaking it isn't usually advisable to have anybody reading checklists, who is untrained or unfamiliar with the process. The remaining pilot is normally better able to refer to the checklist and to action it where applicable.

In this case good application of CRM though, where the crewmember had commercial pilot training.

Final 3 Greens,

Our cabin crew are trained to know how to run through a checklist with the fit pilot and, recently, have become familiar with how to operate the radios on the types they fly (I think this is a direct result of the Helios incident).

That last story link says the flight attendant was "forced" to land the jet - what a load of twoddly-bo*****s!

B&S :ok:

How to get a terrorist into a cockpit.
 

So guys, If I manage to poison one of the pilots all I have to do is wait for you to ask for a CPL onboard to get a free pass to the flightdeck - please.....

Once I'm installed in the seat will you also have an official handover of the incapacitated pilot's firearm?

Of course, you guys will be able to recognise a REAL pilot, pity that the same is not true of doctors, I have always wondered how you would cope with the case of a wannabe doctor who steps forward and kills someone. Acting under instructions from the captain of course!

Flying lawyer where are you?
:(