A Lufthansa flight between Frankfurt and Seville experienced moments of extreme tension when the co-pilot lost consciousness and the captain was locked out of the cockpit, in the bathroom. The incident occurred on February 17, 2024, but the official investigation report was only released this week by Spanish authorities.
The incident, now called “ghost flight” LH1140, involved an Airbus A321 with 199 passengers on board. According to the report, everything was proceeding normally until the captain left the cockpit to use the bathroom, as part of routine procedures. At that moment, the co-pilot, who had taken over command of the aircraft, suffered a sudden loss of consciousness, possibly caused by a neurological seizure.
With the cockpit door locked — as required by safety protocols — the captain was unable to return. For eight minutes, the aircraft flew without any active controls, without responding to radio contact attempts, either from air traffic controllers or from other aircraft in the region.
The situation only avoided becoming a tragedy because the captain, upon noticing the silence in the cockpit, activated the emergency code, which emitted an audible alarm inside the cabin. The sound woke the co-pilot, who managed to unlock the door. The captain regained control and a doctor on board administered first aid, stabilizing the co-pilot. The flight, which was bound for Seville, was successfully diverted to Madrid, where it landed without major incidents.
Despite the safe outcome, the report points to the potential for disaster. With the co-pilot unconscious, involuntary movements could have deactivated the autopilot and put the aircraft at imminent risk of crashing. The case has been compared to the Germanwings tragedy in 2015, when co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, taking advantage of the captain’s absence, deliberately crashed the aircraft into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board.
In light of the latest scare, the investigation recommends that the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) reassess the current rule, allowing there to never be just one person in the cockpit. The adoption of the “four-eye rule” — which requires the presence of at least two people in the cabin — is suggested as a measure to prevent similar incidents, especially in cases of medical emergencies.
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