Jet2 pilot ‘incapacitated’ as flight declares emergency over UK

The plane was landed by the co-pilot

The flight from the Canary Islands to Manchester Airport declared the emergency while flying over the UK.

On Tuesday, flight LS980 took off from Lanzarote at 3.45pm GMT, and was proceeding normally towards the UK.

However, things for the Airbus A321 changed around 25 minutes before its scheduled arrival in Manchester.

The crew transmitted a Squawk 7700, which is the international code for a general emergency, and informed Air Traffic Control that one of the pilots was unable to continue their duties.

This was due to a sudden medical issue for one of the pilots, the crew revealed.

Air Traffic Control gave the plane priority handling and it touched down at Manchester Airport at 8.14pm GMT.

An airport spokesperson said that after the captain fell ill, the plane was landed safely by the co-pilot.

“Flight LS980 from Lanzarote to Manchester requested a priority landing yesterday evening, due to one of the pilots feeling unwell. The aircraft landed safely and customers disembarked as normal”, a spokesperson for Jet2 said.

The affected pilot was reportedly met by medical professionals, as the aircraft was parked on a stand.

A similar incident happened earlier in the early hours of Tuesday, which involved a passenger on a Delta Air Lines plane.

Flight DL234 travelling from New York to Tel Aviv declared an emergency while flying over the UK.

According to AirLive, the Airbus A330 was around four hours into its 10-hour journey when the pilots requested an immediate diversion to Dublin after one of the 176 people on board experienced a “serious medical emergency”.