A pilot on an Air Canada flight from Toronto earlier this month became “incapacitated” mid-flight, Canada’s transportation regulator confirmed to CTV News Toronto.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) said it happened on flight AC692, which departed Toronto Pearson International Airport for St. John’s International Airport on June 7.
In an email, the TSB said the first officer was “incapacitated” during the flight.
The TSB went on to say that a dead captain – a pilot who was a passenger on the flight – took over crew member’s duties and the plane landed “without further incident”.
After the flight landed in St. John’s, NL, emergency teams were on standby at the gate, TSB said.
It is unclear how the first officer, also known as the co-pilot, was incapacitated.
The TSB said the incident was classified as a Class 5 event, meaning it does not require a full investigation and, according to its website, “there is a small likelihood of identifying new safety tenets that will improve transportation security.”
“However, Class 5 event data is recorded at an appropriate level for possible future safety analysis, statistical reporting or archiving purposes,” a spokesman for the federal agency said in an email.
CTV News Toronto has reached out to Air Canada for comment but has received no response.
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