I’m a pilot and here’s what really happens when someone dies onboard
WHILE travelling on a plane is safer than driving along in a car, sometimes the worse can happen mid-flight.
A pilot has explained what really happens when a passenger passes away on a flight.
Dan Bubb, a former pilot from Las Vegas, Nevada, told Newsweek that most holidaymakers wouldn’t realise that a fellow passenger had passed away.
He said: “If a passenger dies, they will be discreetly removed from the plane, and to avoid upsetting other passengers, the flight crew will not inform the passengers that a [fellow] passenger has died.”
Some planes are apparently equipped with a special compartment to store a body away from holidaymakers.
If such a place doesn’t exist, flight attendants are told to cover the deceased with a blanket up to their neck and tighten their seatbelt.
Flight attendant Annette Long explained to Business Insider what she would do in such a situation.
She said: “I would probably put a blanket over the person so it would become less of something to look at.
“You want to maintain dignity and respect for someone who passed away. You don’t want anyone staring at them. That would be really sad.”
If there’s a medical emergency onboard, cabin crews are all trained in first aid and planes are often equipped with defibrillators too.
But if more assistance is needed, crew might make an emergency landing at the nearest airport or ask if any passengers are trained medical professionals.
If you hear a passenger called Jim Wilson on your flight, that most likely means there is a dead body on board, with the secret code a way to let them fly undetected.
The phrase HR also means there is a dead body on the flight, which is abbreviated for ‘Human Remains’.
Here are some other secrets words used by crew during a flight.