2 British Airways pilots rushed to hospital after ‘keeling over’ from ‘smoke inhalation’ as plane forced to redivert
TWO British Airways pilots dramatically ‘fell ill’ and donned oxygen masks in the cockpit during a flight to London today.
The Captain and First Officer radioed ahead to emergency services at 30,000ft after reporting a “foul odour”.
The flight landed watched by ambulance and fire teams.
The pilot pair were taken to hospital by hazardous response experts after suffering from ‘smoke inhalation’.
They managed to land the packed passenger plane at Heathrow airport after take-off from Newcastle.
It was feared the duo had suffered exposure to toxic chemicals.
The two-man cockpit team left the aircraft and got to BA’s Crew Report Centre before being assessed by medical staff.
They were then taken to hospital for further tests.
One source told The Sun: “This was a shocking incident. The immediate concern is obviously for the two pilots.
“But also striking is the worry about what could have happened had these two cockpit crew been intoxicated when they were still at the controls of a crowded jet at 25,000ft. It doesn’t bear thinking about.
“Investigations have started into this alarming incident.”
Ambulances and fire crews were called to BA’s Crew Report Centre.
The pilots had been at the controls of BA Shuttle 13C which took off from Newcastle with up to 180 passengers on board at 7.41am – one hour and 41 minutes after its scheduled 6am departure.
The Airbus A320 twin-jet took 91 minutes to land at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 at 9.14am – one hour and 54 minutes later than originally planned.
BA has been hit by a series of ‘toxic fume events’. The Sun told how in 2019 the airline had 291 such events reported.
In 2016 BA denied accusations they downplayed an incident that left 25 cabin crew in hospital after toxic fumes leaked into the jet of a San Francisco-bound flight.
The Unite union said that BA was attempting to spin the nature of such instances and “manipulate” statistics “to downplay how widespread the problem really is in the industry”.
BA said it encourages staff to report safety worries and always passes them on to the Civil Aviation Authority.
Last night the London Ambulance Service said of the Heathrow drama: “We were called at 10.39am on 19 October to reports of an incident at Terminal 5 Heathrow Airport, Hounslow.
“We sent an ambulance crew, an incident response officer and members of our hazardous area response team to the scene.
“We treated two patients at the scene for smoke inhalation and took them to a local hospital.”
The airline said the safety of passengers and colleagues remains its highest priority and standard procedures were followed for such incidents.
British Airways told The Sun: “The flight landed safely and customers disembarked normally following a minor technical issue with the aircraft.”