‘Deadheading’ pilot steps in to land plane after first officer became ‘incapacitated’

A pilot who was ‘deadheading’ on another flight ended up being the saviour of the day after one of the pilots flying the aeroplane became ‘incapacitated’.

It’s the sort of stuff that disaster movies are made of, but this took place firmly in the real world, and required a real-world hero to sort things out.

Luckily for them, on this occasion, the hero was just doing his job, only he wasn’t actually at work at the time.

You see, sometimes pilots can take advantage of cheap or free flights where they can travel as passengers instead of flying the plane.

It’s a practice called ‘deadheading’, for whatever reason.

Edgar Bullon/Alamy Stock Photo

Well, this time it turned out that the deadhead pilot was called into action when the Air Canada flight’s first officer became ‘incapacitated’ and he had to take over at the controls.

Luckily, the sort of people who are able to fly huge passenger jets aren’t flustered by much, so the off-duty pilot was able to intervene and get everyone onto the floor in relative safety.

According to the Canadian Transportation Safety Board, the pilot of flight AC692 between Toronto and St John’s in Labrador and Newfoundland last week became unable to fly the plane any longer.

In a statement released to Reuters, an official said: "A deadheading captain assumed the crew member's duties and landed the aircraft without further incident."

Emergency service crews were present when the plane finally got to the ground, but they were only there as a precaution.

The flight data shows that the plane left Toronto at around 5:40pm local time and landed in Newfoundland some three hours later, as per Insider.

It was also reported as a ‘class 5 occurrence’, which is listed as a minor incident on the organisation’s website.

DPA Picture Alliance/Alamy Stock Photo

This is far from the first time that a deadhead has stepped up to the mark, as in 2019, an EasyJet plane was flown by a pilot who was just heading out on holiday after the original pilot failed to turn up.

Thankfully – we assume – this pilot hadn’t done what everyone else does before going on holiday and drank three beers in departures.

And just last August, a deadhead helped a Jet2 flight make an emergency landing after a colleague fainted on the flight.

Perhaps we just need to make sure that there’s always a deadhead pilot on every flight, right?

LADbible has contacted Air Canada for a comment.