Pilot Incapacitation - US Army Aviation Center (Alabama) student pilot went into cardiac arrest behind the controls midflight (Aug.18, 2023), Instructor landed plane - pilot was dead for 18 minutes!

NEWS: US Army Fort Novosel Student Pilot collapses

Military watchdog site TRMLX broke the report based on messages from students, instructors and senior members within the chain of command.

On August 18, the Fort Novosel (formerly Fort Rucker) student suffered a cardiac arrest while flying at a low altitude, according to TRMLX. The student suddenly slumped over the controls and his “stick buddy” had to pull him off.  The instructor pilot (IP), according to TRMLX, took over and safely landed the plane onto the stage field and the second student immediately began performing CPR on the incapacitated student.

According to the report, paramedics performed life saving measures and he was medevac’d to the hospital in Dothan with his stick buddy riding along with him. They were able to resuscitate him en route using a defibrillator, TRMLX said.

Because the incident has been labeled a medical event rather than a “precautionary landing,” the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence (USAACE) will reportedly not be launching an investigation.

One of the DACs (civilian) told me “we got a brief today; they aren’t saying heart attack, but he lost consciousness and was air medevac’d to Dothan.”

Instructors and cadre told a different story, however. One member of cadre told me, “yes, a student in Common Core had a heart attack. Yes, he was revived after 11 minutes.” A couple of other messages echoed this statement. Then I spoke to a member of the medical response team. This person told me from start to finish, the student was gone for a total of 18 minutes. He was, indeed, revived with a defibrillator, and he factually went into cardiac arrest. This person flat out said he was dead and brought back to life.

6th Pilot incapacitation in 2 weeks, 3 pilot deaths

Aug.17, 2023 - IndiGo Flight (NAG-PNQ) Nagpur to Pune, India, pilot 40 year old Manoj Subramanium died after collapsing at the boarding gate, about to board.

Aug.16, 2023 - Qatar Airways Flight QR579 (DEL-DOH) Delhi to Doha, Qatar, 51 year old pilot collapsed as a passenger inflight and died, plane diverted to Dubai.

Aug.14, 2023 - LATAM Flight LA505 (MIA-SCL) Miami to Santiago, Chile - 2 hours into 8hr flight, 56 year old Captain Ivan Andaur collapsed and died in the lavatory - plane diverted to Panama City!

Aug.9, 2023 - United Airlines UAL1309 (SRQ-EWR) Sarasota to Newark, pilot had a heart attack and lost consciousness in flight

Aug.7, 2023 - TigerAIR Flight IT237 (CTS-TPE) Sapporo to Taipei, copilot had a medical emergency after landing plane in Taipei

RECENT PILOT INCAPACITATIONS: