An off-duty pilot from another airline jumped into action when the Southwest captain became ill during a flight to Ohio.
Southwest has not released information on the pilot’s condition or the nature of the medical issue.
According to CNN, flight 6013 was headed to Columbus, Ohio, from Las Vegas and was in the air for slightly over an hour when the pilot had a medical emergency.
A pilot, from a different airline, was on board and helped assist in landing the plane by managing radio communication with air traffic controllers while the co-pilot returned the plane to Las Vegas.
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“A credentialed Pilot from another airline, who was on board, entered the Flight Deck and assisted with radio communication while our Southwest Pilot flew the aircraft,” airline spokesperson Chris Perry said.
A nurse on the plane helped care for the pilot while the plane was rerouted back to Las Vegas.
“It’s standard procedure for our Flight Crews to request assistance from traveling medical personnel during in-flight medical events involving Customers, this situation just so happened to involve one of our employees,” said Southwest.
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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a statement on Wednesday regarding the need for “continued vigilance and attention to mitigation of safety risks.”
The statement explains that there have been six serious incidents on runways just this year, including an event at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport where a departing aircraft and a landing aircraft came within 100 feet of each other.
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