Heart Attack Caused Emergency Landing of Boeing-747

Nat · Post by **Nat** » 19 Oct 2007, 10:13

On Friday, October 19, a Boeing-747 of British Airways flying from Hong-Kong to London was forced to make emergency landing at the airport of the Russian city Irkutsk due to one of the passengers had suffered a heart attack aboard http://www.russia-ic.com/news/show/4986/

Air2D2 · Post by **Air2D2** » 19 Oct 2007, 10:23

Thanks for the info.
I just wonder : has anyone got an idea if stats are available re: this type of diversions ?

Nat · Post by **Nat** » 19 Oct 2007, 10:36

Sorry, but i didn`t understand what the question was about... Can you explain pls?

FLY4HOURS.BE · Post by **FLY4HOURS.BE** » 19 Oct 2007, 10:48

Hey nat, wrong vocabulary, a "forced landing" is when you land on a place without any other choice left, which means an unsuitable runway, a prairy, a lake, the ocean, the beach, the highway,...

If the choice of the runway and airport is available, it is called a diversion to an alternate airport

Nat · Post by **Nat** » 19 Oct 2007, 10:50

Oh, thanks, i`ve changed it to emergency landing - perhaps it`s also appropriate here, right?

Air2D2 · Post by **Air2D2** » 19 Oct 2007, 11:31

Sorry, but i didn`t understand what the question was about... Can you explain pls?

I was just wondering if anyone on Luchtzak has an idea if this type of diversion - due to medical reasons - is a commonly recurring problem, generally spoken.

FLY4HOURS.BE · Post by **FLY4HOURS.BE** » 19 Oct 2007, 11:39

No, it is not common and the crew will not practice this option unless they have reasons to believe they can save the passenger.
A heart attack is fatal if unrecovered within 5 minutes.

The brain starts to decompose, and even if the heart goes again, after 5 minutes, the brain will not be able to recover. The patient will live in a vegetal coma for the rest of "its" life.

If at cruise, A B747 needs at least 20 minutes to desend and land at the nearest airport.
If the patient has recovered, he needs immediate medical assistance, and would justify an emergency landing.

sn-remember · Post by **sn-remember** » 19 Oct 2007, 14:01

In the years 60ies, I remember a pilot landed a Sabena 707 on a german airstrrip in a record time to try save the copilot having a heart attack ..
I was only a boy at that time but already set on air transport

I am not sure about the 5 min threshold to save your brain though ... (off topic but interesting all the same)

summersso · Post by **summersso** » 19 Oct 2007, 14:53

Similar story happened just a week ago but closer to Brussels - a passenger suffered a stroke on the Northwest morning flight from Amsterdam to Boston on 11 October. Flight was diverted to Shannon and delayed over three hours.

TCAS_climb · Post by **TCAS_climb** » 19 Oct 2007, 15:13

Another example that onboard defibrilators can save lives, but won't save the day ?

Not sure Irkoutsk is the best place to recover from that kind of health problem...

Charlie Roy · Post by **Charlie Roy** » 19 Oct 2007, 16:07

If at cruise, A B747 needs at least 20 minutes to desend and land at the nearest airport.

People often use the expression "having a heart attack" to describe the whole event of getting chest pains, feeling nausea, having pain down one's left arm, and then one's heart actually stopping. It can be several minutes or hours between the realisation "Oh my god, he's having a heart attack" and the patient's heart actually stopping. I would expect that aircraft often make a landing in time.

YYZ727 · Post by **YYZ727** » 21 Oct 2007, 17:27

I was on a NW DC10-40 that made a medical emergency landing in YHZ (Halifax, N.S.), on july 4th 1996 while en route AMS-BOS.
I remember the pilot making a short anouncement and a quite fast and steep descent towards the airport followed. From top of descent to touchdown was about 15 minutes.
A passenger had suffered a stroke and upon opening the doors a medical response team came rushing in. About ten minutes later they left again, with the victim. We where back on our way to BOS about 50 minutes after landing in YHZ...

David747 · Post by **David747** » 22 Oct 2007, 04:37

Scary thought of having a heart attack in the air...