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Continental Flight 61 Pilot Dies Mid-Flight Brussels to Newark

by albertacowpoke | June 18, 2009 at 07:15 am

2119 views | 71 Recommendations | 17 comments

According to FNC the pilot of Continental 61 has died mid-flight. There should be no safety issue. Since the flight came from overseas chances are, that in addition to the co-pilot, an extra crew is on board. The plane was destined for Newark, NJ and has now landed safely. The plane was travelling from Brussels.

There were 247 passengers on board.

The co-pilot took over the controls and eventuall a relief pilot that was on board is credited with landing the plane safely. The name of the deceased pilot has not been released.

Dr. Julien Struyven, a cardiologist from Belgium, was rendering assistance and also used a defibrillator. According to Struyven, in an interview on FNC, the pilot could not be saved.

Continental Airlines is to release a detailed report to the media soon.

Continental Airlines advises that the pilot died of natural causes and was 61 years old with 20 years of experience.

A reserve pilot was also on board. The plane is a 777 which can carry up to 440 people.

It is not known if the passengers have been informed.

Update: According to FNC Report half way into the flight the crew was asking for doctors on board. None of the passengers knew that the pilot had died and was the one that needed assistance. The crew acted very professional and one of the doctors on board declared pilot dead from natural causes.

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Jordan Yerman

at 07:51 on June 18th, 2009

So the co-pilot would take over... accompanied by the late pilot's dead body?

Pilot (not verified)

at 08:09 on June 18th, 2009

Yes, the copilot would take over. But no, not with the dead pilots body. They would also check the manifest for any non-rev pilots, preferably a 777 capt or FO. But if either are on board there is likely a non-rev pilot on board regardless to if they fly a 777 or not they can still assist the FO in basic duties.

pilot (not verified)

at 08:05 on June 18th, 2009

Umm...sorry that isn't a 747, continental doesn't fly any 747s.

albertacowpoke

at 08:22 on June 18th, 2009

Thanks for the update. I changed it in the main text.

ShipiboConibo (not verified)

at 09:22 on June 18th, 2009

I am so impressed with Pilot's vast knowledge and pompous attitude... it's so cool. *sarcasm*

albertacowpoke

at 09:49 on June 18th, 2009

Shipibo Thank you for this.

RickR (not verified)

at 10:00 on June 18th, 2009

Where do they put the dead body in a case like this?

Amy Judd

at 11:10 on June 18th, 2009

I dated a flight attendant for a while, who had a passenger die on an international flight and he said that they had to move him to the back of the plane without letting others know that he had died, and then they positioned him like he was asleep. I think he said they were still hours from their destination.

VictorNY (not verified)

at 10:41 on June 18th, 2009

The 777 cockpit is pretty roomy and there are few extra seats in it too...

Amy Judd

at 11:08 on June 18th, 2009

Poor guy, this is very sad - luckily there were some extra crew to take over.

albertacowpoke

at 11:11 on June 18th, 2009

Yes it sure was lucky. Although from my understanding the First Officers do the take off and landings a lot to gain experience.

Paschen

at 13:03 on June 18th, 2009

That has to be rare. Fortunately they do have two of them on board.

digirose

at 13:43 on June 18th, 2009

What a wonderful crew on this plane who calmly handled a situation they hoped would never happen. I think you can safely say the passengers owe them big time. My condolences to the family of the pilot who died, I'm sure they must be comforted by the fact he was the only person who died that day.