An American Airlines pilot died in the cockpit early Monday during a routine red-eye flight from Phoenix, the airline said, forcing the first officer to divert the Airbus A320 jetliner and make a safe emergency landing in Syracuse, N.Y., with 147 passengers aboard.
American AAL, -0.24% confirmed that the pilot died when the plane was nearing Syracuse, but declined to release his name, age, length of service or the nature of his illness. “We are incredibly saddened by this event, and we are focused on caring for our pilot’s family and colleagues,” the company said in a statement.
The flight, which was bound for Boston, put down at Syracuse Hancock International Airport at about 7:30 a.m. ET. American sent a new crew of two pilots and three flight attendants to take the plane on to Boston, where it landed at 12:34 p.m. ET on Monday, the airline said.
Instances in which cockpit crew members become incapacitated in flight for health reasons are very rare. More commonplace are passengers falling in or passing away on planes.
The Federal Aviation Administration said seven pilots for major carriers and one for a regional carrier died in flight from 1994 through Monday, including the latest incident. U.S. commercial airlines operate some 27,000 flights a day.
