Pilot Passes Out During Flight, Forcing an Emergency Landing in Portland

A pilot passed out on an Alaska Airlines flight, forcing the co-pilot to make an emergency landing.

The pilot of an Alaska Airlines Flight 473 lost consciousness and the co-pilot declared an emergency so the pilot could be treated. The plane was scheduled to land in Seattle but it was forced to land in Portland due to the emergency, the Associated Press reports.

The pilot briefly passed out. When he came to, he left the cockpit and a doctor on board treated him until the plane landed and was met by medical personnel on the runway. The pilot was taken to the hospital. It is not clear what his condition is.

Despite it being an emergency landing, all of Alaska Airlines' pilots and co-pilots are trained to fly alone in emergencies, so there was so immediate danger to the 116 passengers and five crew members on the Boeing 737-700

Twenty of the passengers who needed to catch connecting flight were put on a Horizon Air shuttle to continue their trio to Seattle on Thursday. The rest of the passengers continued on the same plane after the pilot was replaced.

The pilot who passed out has 28 years of experience with Alaska Airlines and was on his six-month medical evaluation. The co-pilot who took over has 11 years with the airline.

This isn't the only incident in which a pilot passed out on an Alaska Airlines flight. On Jan. 22, a co-pilot on a flight from Seattle to Las Vegas fainted briefly, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing so the co-pilot could receive medical treatment.

While similar, there doesn't appear to be a connection between the events.

"At this point we do not believe there was a connection between the two incidents," spokesman Paul McElvoy told AP.