Shalaka Kachare, Pune
On a scheduled flight from Miami to Chile, a pilot passed away following a heart attack. The co-pilot brought the 271-passenger aircraft to a safe landing in Panama City after the plane’s captain had a heart attack after collapsing in the lavatory. It is said that this event happened last Sunday. Ivan Andaur, a 56-year-old pilot, was operating a LATAM Airlines aircraft when the mishap occurred.
According to the report, this flight was going to Santiago, the capital of the South American country of Chile. Then on Sunday night around 11 o’clock, pilot Ivan suddenly fell in the bathroom near Panama and suffered a heart attack. An attempt was made to save the life of the pilot with the help of two doctors and a nurse present among the passengers. The emergency landing of the aircraft was done with the help of the co-pilot at Panama’s Tocumen International Airport. After landing, he was taken to the nearest hospital, but he was declared dead.
According to a passenger, after the aircraft had been underway for about 40 minutes, the co-pilot abruptly asked all of the passengers who could help the medics to step forward. Up until that point, nobody knew what was going on. Ivan the pilot’s health was progressively getting worse. After the emergency landing, the plane was quickly evacuated due to the urgency of the situation. LATAM Airlines said that throughout the whole incident, all procedures were followed in an effort to preserve the pilot’s life. Sadly, Ivan Andaur could not be rescued despite receiving rapid medical assistance after landing.
This episode reminds me of a similar scenario that occurred in March when a Southwest Airlines flight had to return to Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas due to a pilot being unwell shortly after takeoff. An off-duty pilot who was a passenger on board assisted with radio communications as the plane made its way back to the city from where it had taken off.