Pilot Passes Out After Plane Loses Pressure, Awakes In Time To Land

A jet captain passed out when the aircraft lost cabin pressure Sunday, but revived in time to bring the Boeing 727 down for an unscheduled landing, airline officials said Friday.

A flight attendant in the cockpit with the pilot, co-pilot and engineer also fell unconscious in the oxygenstarved atmosphere, said American Trans Air spokeswoman Mary Moses Cochran.

ATA says the co-pilot put the jet into a two-minute, 23,000-foot descent to stabilize its cabin air pressure. When they reached about 10,000 feet, the captain took over the controls and completed the unscheduled landing.

“We know the first officer initiated the descent and the captain regained consciousness and then landed the plane,” Cochran said. “Obviously, there wasn’t any long-term loss of consciousness.”

The plane landed safely in Indianapolis, where 12 of the 106 passengers were treated and released for ear pain, light-headedness and nausea.

The full picture of what happened Sunday aboard ATA Flight 406 may not be clear for weeks, according to Alan Pollock, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington.

The NTSB’s Chicago office has interviewed the crew, flight attendants and passengers, but hasn’t determined whether the flight engineer or co-pilot remained conscious after cabin pressure was lost, Pollock said.

Cochran wouldn’t comment on how the co-pilot and engineer fared, or on reports, being investigated by the NTSB, that crew members were revived by a flight attendant.

It’s unclear what caused the loss in cabin pressure, although significant damage to the plane didn’t appear to be involved. The Federal Aviation Administration cleared the jet for flight on Monday after test flights and an inspection.

The aircraft left Chicago about 8 p.m. Sunday and was en route to St. Petersburg, Fla., when it made an unscheduled landing at Indianapolis International Airport about 8:55 p.m.