An IndiGo pilot died moments before flying an aircraft from the Nagpur Airport on Thursday, officials said. The 40-year-old pilot collapsed near a boarding gate at the Nagpur airport and was going to operate the airline’s Nagpur-Pune flight. Prima facie, he died due to “sudden cardiac arrest”, said KIMS-Kingsway Hospital where he was rushed, reported PTI. Aejaz Shami, spokesperson of the hospital, said the emergency team of the hospital gave him CPR but he did not respond.
The pilot collapsed around 12 noon while sitting in the security hold area, they said. As per a media report, the pilot had operated two sectors, from Trivandrum To Nagpur Via Pune, between 3 am and 7 am yesterday.
He had 27 hours of rest and was supposed to fly four sectors today and had reported for his first departure of the day, which was scheduled for 1 pm. The death of the IndiGo pilot makes it the second death of an Indian pilot in two days. Yesterday, a Qatar Airways pilot suffered a heart attack onboard a flight from Delhi to Doha.
The Qatar Airways pilot was travelling in the passenger cabin of a Delhi-Doha flight as an additional crew member yesterday when he suffered a cardiac arrest and died. He had earlier worked with Indian airlines like SpiceJet, Alliance Air and Sahara.
Recently, LATAM Captain Ivan Andaur, 56, collapsed during a flight inside the bathroom. He was operating the Miami to Chile flight, which had 271 passengers on board. AnAn emergency landing was carried out in Panama on Sunday night and the pilot was declared dead by medical experts at the airport.