A Lufthansa flight bound for Spain was left without a pilot at the controls for almost 10 minutes last year when the first officer collapsed while the captain was locked out of the cockpit, says a report by the Spanish authorities.
At the time, the plane was cruising at above 30,000 feet with 199 passengers and six crew members on board. It had been flying normally as it entered Spanish airspace, with about 30 minutes left of the journey.
The captain told investigators the co-pilot appeared to be in good condition before he left the flight deck for a bathroom break. However, when he returned eight minutes later, he was unable to get back into the cockpit.
Investigators said the first officer suffered what he described as a “sudden and severe incapacitation,” which occurred so abruptly that he was unable to alert anyone.
The captain first tried to reenter using the standard cockpit access code, which prompts a buzzer requiring manual confirmation from the inside. After five failed attempts and no response over the intercom, the captain resorted to using an emergency access code, which would have automatically opened the door after a short delay.
Just before the emergency access code timer, the co-pilot regained awareness and opened the door manually, allowing the captain to quickly take control of the aircraft.
The report stated that the 38-year-old first officer was found “pale, sweating, and moving strangely.” The captain immediately called for assistance. Cabin crew and a doctor who was traveling as a passenger administered first aid, while the captain diverted the flight to Madrid, the nearest airport.
The co-pilot’s incapacitation was later attributed to a “neurological condition” that had not been previously detected by the patient himself nor in his prior medical exams. The CIAIAC said this condition was difficult to detect, and would appear in a medical exam only if his symptoms had been present at the time or had occurred before.
Throughout the incident, the plane’s autopilot system remained engaged and kept on a stable course, according to the Spanish aviation regulator, although the co-pilot might have unintentionally interacted with the controls while he was unconscious.
The incident raised renewed attention to cockpit protocol.
In 2015, German airlines adopted the “two-person cockpit rule” in the aftermath of the Germanwings 9525 tragedy, where investigators believe that pilot Andreas Lubitz locked the captain out of the cockpit and deliberately crashed the Airbus A320 into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board. This policy required that at least two crew members be present in the flight deck at all times. If one pilot needed to leave, a flight attendant would temporarily take their place, so that no pilot was ever left alone.
In 2017, however, the German Aviation Association lifted that rule, saying that German airlines had all agreed the two-person cockpit requirement did not improve safety and could, in fact, introduce new risks, such as the door being left open for too long.
Instead, airlines pledged to improve mental health screenings for pilots and provide aircrews with better psychological support services.
