A plane flying passengers from Tenerife, Spain, to Birmingham in England had to make an emergency landing in Portugal after the pilot suffered a suspected heart attack at 30,000ft.
Witnesses said stewardesses came running down the aisle in tears asking startled passengers if anyone was medically trained to deal with a cockpit emergency.
Jet2’s Flight LS1266 from Tenerife to Birmingham suddenly dropped in altitude as the aircraft raced to make an unscheduled landing in Portugal – with the more inexperienced First Officer at the controls.
A passenger told The Sun on Sunday: “My partner and I were asleep when we were woken by chaos.
“Lights began flashing and hostesses who were visibly upset, seeking a doctor.
“Our two-year-old began crying like many other children on-board because the aircraft was dropping so quickly for an emergency landing.”
The Sun obtained footage showing how emergency services raced to the runway at Porto in Portugal as the twin-jet Airbus A321, with up to 220 passengers on board, made an emergency landing at 2.11am on Friday (May 22).
Medics ran on to the plane and attended to the stricken pilot in the cockpit before rushing him to hospital.
Travellers were left in Porto’s Francisco Sa Carneiro airport for 13 hours before they were able to return to the UK on another flight and with a new cockpit crew.
A passenger said: “We were stranded in Portugal for over 13 hours without accommodation. They wouldn’t let us off the plane itself for over an hour.
“Then we were just left to wander around. There was nowhere to stay. They said accommodation was too expensive.”
Jet2 flew a pilot from Manchester to Porto to help bring the passengers home to the UK.
A passenger continued: “The airline told us the pilot had suffered a heart attack in the cockpit. We have full sympathy for him of course.”
The airline told passengers they could offer them a free change onto a Jet2 flight to any of their 14 UK destinations in the next week.
Jet2 told The Sun: “Flight LS1266 from Tenerife to Birmingham diverted to Porto on Thursday (21st May), due to one of the pilots feeling unwell.
“At no point was safety compromised, and customers subsequently continued their journey.
“We would like to apologise to customers for this unforeseen delay.”
This story originally appeared on The Sun on Sunday and was reproduced with permission.
