An Aeroflot pilot suffered a fatal heart attack during a flight over Russia on Sunday morning.
The 49-year-old first officer was piloting a flight from Moscow to Anapa when he fell ill and is believed to have died during the plane’s descent. According to the Daily Mirror, the Airbus A320 made an emergency landing at Platov International Airport in Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia.
“A stewardess practically ran across the aisle. They later asked if there were any doctors on board and said they really needed them. Then they asked again,” passenger Yelena Voronova told local media, according to Russian news outlet RT.
“Unfortunately it was not possible to resuscitate the pilot,” an Aeroflot spokesperson said, per the Mirror.
While the unidentified pilot had reportedly complained of chest pains prior to boarding the flight, he had passed a routine medical check-up and “had no health indicators that would have barred him from piloting the aircraft,” the airline confirmed. Nonetheless, an investigation has been launched into the pilot’s death.
A replacement pilot was brought in to operate the flight to its final destination.
Earlier this year, a United Airlines flight traveling from San Francisco to New Zealand was forced to make an emergency landing in Honolulu after one of the pilots fell ill.
According to the FAA, only seven pilots for U.S. airlines and one charter pilot died during flights over two decades between 1994 and 2015. What’s more, the agency points out that both the captain and first officer are each capable of flying the plane solo.
