A Lufthansa flight from Germany to Spain last year went without a pilot for 10 minutes after the co-pilot, who was alone in the cockpit, fainted, an investigation has found. The German news agency dpa reported Saturday that Spanish accident investigation authority CIAIAC concluded that the captain was in the restroom at the time during the Feb. 17, 2024, flight, per the AP. The aircraft was carrying 199 passengers and six crew members from Frankfurt to Seville. Lufthansa told dpa that it was aware of the Spanish investigation report and that it had conducted its own investigation; the company didn't disclose its results.
Although the unconscious co-pilot apparently operated controls unintentionally, the aircraft was able to continue flying in a stable manner because of the active autopilot. During this time, the voice recorder captured strange noises in the cockpit that were consistent with an acute health emergency, dpa reported. The captain tried entering the regular door opening code, which triggers a buzzer in the cockpit to alert the co-pilot to open the door. He did so five times without being allowed in. A flight attendant then tried to contact the co-pilot using the onboard telephone.
Finally, the captain typed in an emergency code that would have allowed him to open the door on his own. But shortly before the door would have opened automatically, the co-pilot opened it from the inside despite being ill, dpa reported. The pilot decided to make an unplanned landing in Madrid, where his colleague was taken to a hospital. The report said a a seizure disorder caused by a neurological condition prompted the co-pilot's "sudden and severe incapacitation," investigators wrote, per Business Insider. The report recommended other airlines be informed of the findings so they could reconsider having a single pilot on the flight deck.
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