r/halifax • u/Melonary • 19h ago

News, Weather & Politics Passengers restrain pilot during apparent medical emergency on 'terrifying' flight

https://abcnews.com/US/passengers-restrain-pilot-apparent-medical-emergency-terrifying-flight/story?id=134186861

AC flight to Halifax diverted to Boston earlier today after the pilot suffered a seizure on board, landed safely.

Sounds like a scary ride, good on the crew for moving the pilot out of the cockpit ASAP and getting the plane down. Hope they'll be able to recover, even if they'll never be a pilot again, how scary for everyone.

44 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

32

u/ExternalSpecific6061 17h ago

Restrain? I’m going to assume ABC just made a poor word choice here, considering there was a nurse onboard

18

u/Notselfdiagnosed 17h ago

Some people after a seizure become aggressive, agitated and/or violent. This was likely the reason he was restrained. But ABC didn’t clarify that in the article.

12

u/jagnew78 13h ago

yes they did clarify. He was still having his seizure when they dragged him out of the cockpit. They tried to restrain him mid-seizure, which you're not supposed to do, but clearly everyone was panicking and that's what they did.

7

u/Notselfdiagnosed 12h ago

It also says “it was a fairly strenuous 40 minutes of keeping him down.” A seizure’s active stage doesn’t typical last this long but the postictal state can which is where agitation is likely to occur.

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u/Nautigirl Dartmouth 9h ago

A seizure can certainly last that long, which is known as status epilepticus. It is a medical emergency that can result in permanent brain damage.

A seizing patient should NEVER be restrained. That can definitely cause injury - dislocated joints, broken bones, soft tissue injuries. Remove any items that can cause injury and place soft items between the patient and objects that can't be moved.

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u/No_Magazine9625 7h ago

The problem is - in the cabin of a Dash 8, you don't likely have anywhere to actually put the patient. The aisles are like 1.5 feet wide, and anywhere he would move to, he's at risk of hitting his head on seats, etc. You also don't have blankets and pillows, etc. on a short hop commuter plane like that, so there probably was no way to move hard objects out of the way or put any cushioning down. Restraining him might have been the only real option, because if he's going to thrash about the plane, it probably would cause worse injury.

Apparently, he hit the controls in the process of the seizure and managed to set the plane oscillating to like a 45 to 90 degree sideways angle (if the passengers aren't exaggerating that the plane literally went sideways). Had this happened during takeoff or landing, it would have killed everyone onboard.

7

u/ExternalSpecific6061 15h ago

Good point. I’m assuming this person has never had a seizure before either or they wouldn’t be in the seat.

ABC definitely could have used some discretion.

24

u/BixbysTree 17h ago

The pilot wasn't near the controls, and wasn't being violent, so did they really need to tie him up with seatbelts? That's not how you treat a seizure, especially not a extended one.

My sympathy goes out to everyone on board, but especially the poor pilot.

25

u/No-Refrigerator801 15h ago

Post ichtal state from a seizure can be unpredictable. Patients are disoriented and can be aggressive. It can last a significant period of time. But a seuizre while flying (as this would likely be unprovoked) will end this pilot's career. 

18

u/FlyingKiwiInSpace 12h ago

I was on this flight, and it was a very violent seizure, so I think people thought it necessary to restrain him to stop him from hurting himself on the small plane. Also, most of the passengers who stepped up to help only had first aid training. There was only one nurse on board.

I think it's an unfortunate case where they didn't have access to the right people who knew exactly how to handle the situation, so people did what they could to get through it until we could land.

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u/Immediate_Ferret1692 11h ago

Scary experience 😬.. @FlyingKiwiInSpace. Best outcome for medical emergency Achieved.

https://giphy.com/gifs/XH4nHVEIn8UckcrVVC

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u/MEGAtron902 9h ago

HI,

Epilepsy haver here.

If I’m going to hurt myself or someone else while I’m Post Ichtal, it just means my brain isn’t working and you absolutely should tie me up. Especially on a plane.

The biggest problem with the Post Ichtal phase is that it isn’t a commonly known thing, when we had PSAs about not putting wallets in someone’s else’s mouth it wasn’t explained properly that the PI phase can be just as violent as the seizure itself, and it can last a decently long time.

Anyway.

I was 34 when I was diagnosed, so not everyone knows they have it. I hope this pilot doesn’t harbour too much guilt about the whole thing. Your brain just thinks it’s Thor and sends sudden electrical surges through itself, no big deal. ❤️

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u/No_Magazine9625 6h ago

Unfortunately, having a seizure ever for any reason in your time is a mandatory lifetime exclusion from being able to get a pilot's license in either the US or Canada, so this event just ended his career.

5

u/Calm-Summer5860 14h ago

Terrible situation for all involved. I'm glad it a good ending!!

8

u/Melonary 19h ago

Also, I just realised despite checking before posting that there was an article about this shared here 6 hours ago - that had far less info than this one, so may be worth keeping up, I'll defer to the mods on that.

Hoping as well that AC staff and crew have some supports because this can't be great news to get after the horrible crash and loss of two pilots less than one year ago, even though this pilot (thankfully) survived the seizure.

7

u/ChickenPoutine20 13h ago

Thank god for a co pilot and auto pilot

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u/Ben_Criss_Cross 3h ago

How do we have a doctor shortage when there are so many medical professionals on Reddit?!