Pilot thought dead co-pilot was pretending to nap and other bizarre pilot death stories

The pilot of a small plane in the UK continued flying even as his 57-year-old instructor died in the cockpit mid-flight in June 2022. A new report states that the pilot thought his co-pilot was joking and 'pretending to take a nap'. 

• The pilot knew the instructor well and thought he was just pretending to take a nap whilse the pilot flew the circuit, so he did not think anything was wrong at this stage. He proceeded to fly the aircraft round the circuit, said the report.
• The pilot landed the plane successfully solo and only noticed something was wrong with his co-pilot upon landing, when the latter remained unresponsive.
• The co-pilot was his 'normal cheerful self' when he got on the flight, but suffered an acute cardiac failure in the cockpit of the Piper PA-28-161 aircraft and died. 
• The BBC reported how the surviving pilot recalled his co-pilot and instructor were normally talking as they readied for takeoff. 
• Then, the co-pilot's head rolled back as if he was pretending to take a nap and when the plane turned, the co-pilot's head slumped over the pilot's shoulder. 
• The pilot continued to fly and only realised something was off after landing.

Usually, pilots over a certain age have to undergo medical examinations likely every 6 months. The pilot who died had cleared the medical test four months earlier. He also had a history of high blood pressure. The report also noted that the pilot who died was accompanied by a qualified pilot who could land, and in other cases, the outcome could have been different. 

The health of pilots is paramount in ensuring the safety of a flight and its occupants. In the case of commercial flights, there are often always at least two pilots flying a plane. 

While cases of in-flight or mid-flight pilot deaths are rare, there have been some bizarre incidents. 

Charles Hew Crooks

Twenty-three-year-old co-pilot Charles Hew Crooks was found dead after exiting a plane making an emergency landing. He and an unidentified pilot took off about 90 miles from Raleigh, North Carolina, when the plane suddenly lost a wheel. pic.twitter.com/fUWzYPFEzJ

— Inside Edition (@InsideEdition) August 2, 2022

• A 23-year-old pilot in the US, Charles Hew Crooks, fell to his death out of a small aircraft used for dropping skydivers. 
• The plane had encountered an issue with its landing gear and the pilot-in-command called up the air traffic control to make an emergency landing. The plane also ran into turbulence.
• At this time, Crooks had opened the window at his side in the cockpit and later told the pilot-in-command that he wasn't feeling well.
• Crooks went towards the open ramp near the rear of the plane presumably to vomit. Later at some point, the pilot-in-command realised that Crooks had fallen out. 
• While initially it was reported that an 'upset' Crooks jumped out of the plane to his death, a report later said that he fell out accidentally. 

Ghost plane

Helios Airways Flight 522 (2005) is the deadliest plane crash to occur in Greece. Crew incapacitation due to hypoxia. Deaths 121 (all). pic.twitter.com/NNgVzyDfJ5

— Air Disasters (@AirCrashMayday) May 19, 2017

• In 2005, Greek fighter jets came across a horror scene in the middle of the sky, a ghost plane. 
• A Boeing commercial plane carrying 121 people was flying in its usual course, but its pilots had been unresponsive to the air traffic controllers for a while.
• The fighter jets saw that the inside of the plane showed a jungle of oxygen masks dangling from the roof and unconscious pilots and passengers. 
• They saw one man in a blue shirt making his way toward the cockpit and trying to gain control of the flight and also signalling to the fighter jet pilots. 
• However, the flight soon crashed into a hilly region, killing everyone on board. 
• The investigation found that the pilots had forgotten to activate the cabin pressure inside the plane. The knob for cabin pressure was set wrong. 
• And so, the pilots and the passengers all passed out due to a lack of oxygen in the cabin resulting in the plane crash. 
• The man in the blue shirt was a crew member with a commercial pilot licence. He was using an oxygen bottle to breathe and perhaps tried to take control of the flight but was unable to do so.  

[READ: Nepal plane crash Facebook Live video brings back the question, what happens if you use phone on flight?]

American Airlines pilot

• In 2017, an American Airlines pilot fell ill and died minutes before landing. 
• The flight had to make an emergency landing and fortunately, the co-pilot was able to safely land the plane. 
• It was later reported that the 57-year-old pilot had died of natural causes. 

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