Terrified passengers aboard an Air Canada flight began praying after the aircraft lurched sharply in the air when its pilot reportedly suffered an apparent seizure, prompting an emergency landing at Boston Logan Airport.
Passenger Rodney McDonald said the incident unfolded on Wednesday after the flight, operated by Air Canada regional partner PAL Airlines, departed Newark, New Jersey, at 12:39 p.m. He said the pilot appeared to experience a seizure shortly after takeoff.
“The moment the plane swerved, I knew something was wrong because it was not turbulence,” McDonald told ABC News.
McDonald said he was traveling with his wife and two sons and was among 61 customers on board the Halifax, Canada-bound flight.
“The flight started swerving violently. It really felt like someone had jilted the controls and then it happened over and over again,” he added.
“And, you know, every thought goes through your mind, you start praying. My boys instantly started praying.”
McDonald said he had initially been seated apart from his family on the twin-turboprop de Havilland Dash 8-400, before moving to assist the captain after a flight attendant pulled the incapacitated pilot from the cockpit.
“Yeah, it was really horrifying,” McDonald said.
“I went back to sit with them and then realized that the pilot was out of control physically, not violently, like it was clear that he was not in control of his faculties and needed to be restrained.
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“[We] worked to get him under control, it was a fairly strenuous 40 minutes of keeping him down and using as many seatbelts as we could to restrain his legs, arms and chest.”
Cops and airport officials received an alert at 1:40 p.m. and the plane landed at Boston Logan just before 2 p.m., according to FlightAware data.
“Pilot is incapacitated. Aircraft is being flown by the co-pilot,” Broadcastify audio, obtained by ABC, revealed.
Air traffic controllers at Boston Logan warned other pilots that its runway 27 would be out of action due to “an inbound emergency,” the Canadian Press reported.
“During the flight, the captain experienced a medical issue and was removed from the flight deck as per safety protocols,” Air Canada told The Post, without specifying the emergency.
“The first officer took control of the aircraft and diverted the flight to Boston, where it landed safely,” the company added.
Ambulances swarmed the plane after it landed and the aircraft was towed to a gate.
The plane left Boston Logan at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and landed in Halifax just before 9:30 p.m. local time.
No further details about the pilot’s condition have been released.
