On May 18, 2025, a Lufthansa plane encountered a thrilling scene during its flight: the co-pilot had a seizure while the captain was away from the cockpit. The investigation revealed that the plane was left unmanned for approximately 10 minutes.
According to the German news agency (dpa) report on Saturday, May 17, last year on February 17, a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt, Germany to Seville, Spain witnessed the aforementioned incident. The Spanish Civil Aviation Accident Investigation Commission (CIAIAC) reported that the incident involved an Airbus A321 carrying 199 passengers and 6 crew members. The 38-year-old co-pilot lost consciousness suddenly while the captain briefly left the cockpit, unable to respond to the cockpit door opening request, and also failed to answer crew calls.
CIAIAC stated that just 36 seconds after the captain left the cockpit to go to the restroom, the co-pilot suddenly “experienced a severe loss of mobility.”
After the captain unsuccessfully entered the password multiple times, he prepared to initiate an emergency door opening procedure. At that moment, the co-pilot regained consciousness and manually opened the cockpit door, allowing the captain to return to the cockpit. The captain then decided to divert the flight to Madrid and sent the co-pilot to receive medical treatment.
The investigation report indicated, “The co-pilot looked pale, was sweating profusely, and had strange movements, prompting the captain to request assistance from the crew.” The crew and a doctor provided emergency assistance. The doctor diagnosed him with a possible heart condition, leading the captain to decide to divert the aircraft to Madrid Barajas Airport. The A321 flight landed 20 minutes later, and all 205 passengers on board were reported safe.
The co-pilot had no recollection of the time when he lost mobility. As a preventive measure, his medical certificate was temporarily suspended. According to data from the Spanish State Aviation Safety Agency AESA, his condition would only be detected during medical checks if symptoms appeared at that time.
CIAIAC mentioned that the captain had a conversation about the weather with the co-pilot before leaving the cockpit. The co-pilot appeared “efficient and alert” with no signs of any abnormalities.
Lufthansa stated that an internal investigation had been initiated but did not disclose the outcomes.
This incident has once again raised concerns in the industry regarding the safety issue of whether the cockpit should resume full-time two-person duty. In 2015, a Germanwings A320, a subsidiary of Lufthansa, crashed due to the deliberate action of the co-pilot locking the cockpit door, shocking the aviation industry.
The report urged the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to urge airlines to reassess relevant safety guidelines, suggesting that there should always be authorized personnel to take over in the cockpit when one of the two pilots leaves.