The plane was diverted and thankfully all 200 passengers onboard landed safely.
In February 2024, a Lufthansa flight – an Airbus A321 with over 200 people onboard – set off from Frankfurt, Germany, set to travel to Seville, Spain.
However, during the flight with around half-an-hour of the journey left, after experiencing 10 minutes with no first officer pilot navigating the plane, the aircraft was forced to be diverted to Madrid, Spain.
On Thursday (May 15), a report by Spanish investigators was published revealing the final report on the incident.
It’s reported by Business Insider the captain of the plane left the flight desk to go to the bathroom when there was around 30 minutes of the flight remaining.
The Lufthansa flight had to be diverted (Getty Images/ Andreas Haas)
When Lufthansa flight Airbus A321 was left without any pilot for around 10 minutes
During his interview about the incident, he told investigators when he left the cockpit, the first officer of the plane seemed fine.
However, when the captain returned eight minutes later, he was reportedly unable to access the cockpit anymore.
Despite multiple attempts to use the security door’s access code and a flight attendant’s intercom calling of the first officer, there was no response. And when the captain tried to use the emergency access code, he discovered the timer for it had run out.
The plane ultimately went without anyone in control of the aircraft for 10 minutes.
But what had happened to the first officer?
The flight was left without a pilot for nearly 10 minutes (Getty Images/ Stuart Pearce)
Investigation reveals what happened to first officer of flight
The first officer – who remains anonymous but is reported as being a 38-year-old man – told authorities he suddenly lost consciousness.
Thankfully, he came to enough to get up and open the door – the captain describing him as ‘pale, sweating and moving strangely’ when he saw him.
The captain immediately made the call to divert the plane to Madrid while cabin crew and a passenger – who identified themselves as a doctor – attended to the first officer.
The first officer was rushed to hospital as soon as the plane landed and it was resolved he had a neurological issue which meant he had a seizure disorder which had caused his ‘sudden and severe incapacitation’.
The investigation has prompted calls for the European Union Aviation Safety Agency to consider revising safety protocols, The Economic Times reports.
UNILAD has contacted Lufthansa and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency for comment.Featured Image Credit: Lukas Wunderlich/Getty
Topics: Travel, World News
Updated 16:39 10 May 2025 GMT+1Published 09:33 10 May 2025 GMT+1
Chilling new details emerge in case of plane crash that killed family of doctors and student athletes onboard
Dr Michael Groff was piloting the flight which crashed on April 12
An investigation into the fatal private plane crash that claimed the lives of six people has revealed the pilot’s final moments.
A family of doctors and student athletes, alongside their partners, died after their aircraft collided with a muddy field in Copake, close to the Massachusetts border, in upstate New York, shortly after 12pm Eastern Time, on April 12.
The private plane was owned by Dr Michael Groff, a neuroscientist who was piloting the flight at the time, alongside his wife Dr Joy Saini, a urogynecologist, who was also on board.
Their daughter, former MIT soccer player Karenna Groff – who was named the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year – had accompanied them on the flight alongside her boyfriend, James Santoro, another recent MIT graduate.
Her brother Jared Groff, a 2022 graduate of Swarthmore College who worked as a paralegal, joined them alongside his partner, Alexia Couyutas Duarte – who graduated from Swarthmore and planned to attend Harvard Law School this fall.
Plane crash in New York leaves six dead
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The family were reportedly going on a trip to the Catskills for a birthday celebration, which coincided with the Passover holiday.
Now, chilling new details have revealed what happened moments before the collision took place.
Their private aircraft – a Mitsubishi MU-2B-40 – departed Westchester County Airport in White Plains, a suburb of New York, at around 11.34am, a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board states.
It headed on a ‘northeast to northern track’ to its planned destination of Columbia County Airport in Hudson.
According to the report, at around 11.57am, Dr Groff informed air traffic control that he had missed his slot to the runway, and the controller advised on new instructions for landing – which he acknowledged shortly after 12pm.
Karenna Groff and her boyfriend James Santoro were on board the plane (John Santoro/NBC Boston)
Around a minute later, a controller issued a warning to Dr Groff stating that his plane was flying too low, but he never responded.
The report adds: “Despite the controller’s multiple attempts, no further radio transmissions were received from the pilot. About 1203:55, the controller advised the pilot that radar contact was lost.”
The plane crashed roughly 10 miles south of the airport, and in a muddy snow-covered field, although the report indicates that there were no significant weather warnings issued for the area at the time.
The report did not provide an exact cause of the crash and noted that the ‘information is preliminary and subject to change’.
An approved release by the Groff, Santoro and Duarte families reads: “We are devastated by the loss of our beloved family members. We will remember them as the six brilliant, dynamic, and loving people that they were.”
Dr Joy Saini was one of those onboard (Boston Pelvic Health)
James’ father, John Santoro, told the Associated Press: “They were a wonderful family. The world lost a lot of very good people who were going to do a lot of good for the world if they had the opportunity.
“We’re all personally devastated.”
Meanwhile, Dr Goff’s family said, as quoted by Times Union, he was ‘an experienced pilot, who fell in love with flying after being taught by his father at the age of sixteen’.
In a statement, Rochester Regional Health CEO Richard Davis said: “Dr. Groff was a highly respected neurosurgeon and physician leader, known for his clinical excellence, compassionate care and unwavering commitment to advancing the field of neuroscience.”
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact GrieveWell on (734) 975-0238, or email info@grievewell.com.Featured Image Credit: Fox Weather/WRGB
Topics: New York, US News, Travel
Published 14:37 29 Mar 2025 GMT
Horrifying audio transcript reveals pilot’s reaction after jet nearly collides with plane carrying 137 passengers at Reagan National Airport
The Delta Air Lines aircraft came within feet of a mid-air collision with a US Air Force jet near where an American Airlines plane crashed
There have been more than 150 plane and helicopter accidents involving US aircrafts this year alone, and that figure was almost two higher after a military jet came within feet of colliding with a commercial airline.
A transcript has since been revealed which shows the pilot’s hair-raising reaction to his plane, with 137 passengers onboard, almost colliding with a US Air Force jet close to Reagan National Airport – where a military chopper collided with an American Airlines-owned plane, on January 29.
The incident earlier this year in Washington DC was the US‘s deadliest aviation disaster since 2001, as all 67 people involved in the crash having died.
That was the start of a spate of high-profile accidents, and the aviation industry has been under a microscope.
Delta flight almost collides with military jet
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The recent close call involved a Delta Air Lines plane which had just take off from Minneapolis-Saint Paul, in Minnesota, when alarms went off in the cockpit which revealed an aircraft had just flown dangerously close to the commercial airline.
Horrifying audio transcription at the time revealed exactly what was said moments after the incident.
LiveATC.net, an air traffic control chatter, captured the pilot asking: “Was there an actual aircraft about 500 feet below us?”
To which an air traffic controller replied: “Affirmative.”
The commercial Delta plane was just 500ft away from colliding with a military jet (Air Nav Radar)
The jet travelled passed the Delta plane, which took off just minutes prior to the incident, at speeds in excess of 350mph, according to FlightRadar 24, while the Federal Aviation Administration detailed how it had been deployed for a flyover at Arlington National Cemetery.
Taking to Twitter, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar posted: “Unbelievably dangerous and thank God people are safe.
“My first call to Department of Defense tomorrow: why are your planes flying 500 feet below passenger jets full of Minnesotans headed from DCA to my state.”
While the FAA issued the following statement on Friday (March 28): “The Delta aircraft received an onboard alert that another aircraft was nearby. Air traffic controllers issued corrective instructions to both aircraft.”
An American Airlines-owned plane collided with a military chopper in Washington DC earlier this year (Al Drago/Getty Images)
According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), there have been 153 US civil aviation accidents already this year – 23 of which involved a fatality.
Two days after the fatal crash in the US capital, a medical jet that crashed in Philadelphia, killing all six people onboard.
Six days later (February 6), a plane with 10 people onboard went missing over Alaska, with the wreckage later discovered and all passengers confirmed dead.
While in Arizona on February 10, a private plane owned by Vince Neil crashed into another plane at Scottsdale Airport, Arizona, as it was arriving from Austin, Texas. Neil was not on board.
One week later (February 17), 80 people onboard a Delta Air Lines flight that crashed and flipped upside down in Toronto were safely evacuated.Featured Image Credit: AirNav Radar
Topics: Travel, US News, Washington
Joe Yates
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Published 15:12 27 Dec 2024 GMT
Horrifying bet pilot made with colleague moments before crash which killed 70 passengers
Aeroflot Flight 6502 was travelling as planned to Samara when the pilot made a fatal bet
Traveling by plane is meant to be one of the safest forms of transport, but over 80 passengers faced a horrifying situation after a pilot made a deadly bet.
There have been several largely known plane crashes that have happened in the last couple of decades, but none of them involved a pilot making a bet without their passengers’ lives in mind.
Sadly, this is something that happened at the Kurumoch Airport in Samara, Russia – formerly known as Kuybyshev during Soviet rule.
It was on October 20, 1986, that the Tu-134A flight left its station at the Koltsovo Airport in Yekaterinburg, which was heading for Grozny.
Aeroflot Flight 6502 was traveling as planned to Samara (Wikimedia Commons)
With a planned stopover at Samara, the flight would have only taken two hours and 30 minutes before passengers would then board the second flight to their planned destination.
With 87 passengers on board and seven crew members, Aeroflot Flight 6502 was traveling as planned to Samara, where pilot in command Alexander Kliuyev, co-pilot Gennady Zhirnov, navigating officer Ivan Mokhonko, flight engineer Kyuri Khamzatov, and three flight attendants were all on board to ensure its safety.
But something went very wrong inside of the cockpit which left 70 people dead and 24 traumatized by the experience.
As it turned out, Captain Kliuyev believed that he could pull off a stunt like no other, which would see him navigate the passenger plane without looking out of the window or using vital navigation screens.
While approaching Kurumoch Airport, he decided to make a bet with First Officer Zhirnov and stated that he could pull off an instrument-only approach. This would mean that all of the windows in the cockpit would have the curtains pulled down, leaving him completely unable to see the ground, and he’d only have to rely on the very basic navigation tools inside of the cockpit as support.
The accident was the worst Russian airline Aeroflot has ever seen (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
While some may think that this is something normal in the piloting world to consider doing, it’s actually completely mad, and is not something that would be pulled off successfully (unless it’s a miracle).
Unfortunately, the captain still went ahead with his reckless plan after it was accepted by his other pilot, and made several blunders as he traveled his path.
Not only had he ignored the ground-proximity warning at an altitude of 62–65 metres, he also dismissed a suggested go-around alert which would have allowed him to correct his trajectory.
This would prove to be fatal mistakes.
When the aircraft touched down on the runway, it was traveling at a speed of 150 knots (170 mph) and overran the runway, leading to the plane traveling off the runway and onto the terrain.
The hard landing caused damage to the plane, flipping it upside down before it was able to come to a complete halt belly up. Due to the speed, flip and awful bet made, 63 people died at the scene and seven more died later in hospital.
Captain Kliuyev made a terrible bet (Wikimedia Commons)
Thankfully, all 14 children on board lived, but they had to live with the trauma of the plane accident forever.
First Commander Zhirnov, who agreed to the insane bet, died while trying to save the lives of his passengers as he went into cardiac arrest while on the way to the hospital.
Captain Kliuyev, however, left the plane unscathed after being responsible for the deaths of most of his passengers and some of his crew.
Subsequently, he was prosecuted and sentenced to 15 years in prison, which was then reduced to six years served.
The instrument-only approach was the worst plane crash for Aeroflot, as there was another crash caused by a pilot letting his 15-year old son steer the plane in 1994, killing 75.Featured Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Topics: Travel, World News, History, Russia
Britt Jones
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Updated 18:00 16 Jun 2024 GMT+1Published 17:54 16 Jun 2024 GMT+1
Terrifying moment pilot of shaking plane tells passengers to ‘pray’
The 2017 incident saw people ‘crying’ and fearing for the worst on-board an AirAsia X flight
The pilot of a violently shaking plane instilled fear in his passengers when he asked them to ‘pray’ for their survival.
Back in 2017, an AirAsia X flight was travelling from Perth in Western Australia to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia with 359 passengers onboard.
For the first 90 minutes of the journey, all was plain sailing.
Pilot of plane asks passengers to ‘pray’.
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However, according to various outlets, passengers suddenly reported hearing a ‘huge bang’ on the Airbus 330.
Following the mysterious noise, the aircraft began to shake violently over the Indian Ocean.
Reports claim that passengers felt as if they were in a ‘washing machine’ and after two hours of shaking, the flight was forced to turn around and head back to Perth.
Following the ordeal, multiple passengers onboard posted footage to social media and complained that they thought they ‘might die’ onboard the rattling aircraft.
In one clip, shared by Instagram user @maesaya, the pilot of the AirAsia X flight could be heard saying: “Please pay attention and please listen to everything.”
“Our survival depends on your cooperation,” he continued before saying passengers to pray twice for their safety.
“I hope you all say a prayer; I will be saying a prayer too and let’s hope we all get back home safely.”
Passengers were experiencing a ‘washing machine’ sensation. (Instagram/@maesaya)
After the flight touched back down in Australia, CNN talked to a holidaymaker called Tim who claimed lots of people onboard the plane had been ‘crying’ during the ‘technical issue’.
He said: “Lots of people crying, lots of people pulling out the life jackets – pretty much preparing. We thought there was a good chance we were going to go down.”
According to the outlet, the pilot claimed the flight back to Perth Airport would be ‘slower’ because flight D7237 had suffered a single-engine failure.
After landing back in Australia at 10 am, the crew onboard the AirAsia X flight were given a round of applause, with one man saying: “The captain did a very good job, he was reassuring and then we landed safely.”
Following the incident, an airport spokesperson confirmed that Fire and Emergency Services had been called to meet the plane, as a precautionary measure, but there was no indication anyone had been hurt.
Furthermore, AirAsia released a statement that said all passengers were being attended to by ground staff and all necessary assistance was being provided.
“The safety of our guests are our utmost priority,” it added before claiming that flyers would be getting rerouted.
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A passenger said people had been ‘crying’ on the flight. (YouTube/CNN)
After watching harrowing footage of the incident, posted to YouTube in 2017, viewers took to the comments section of the video to have their say.
One wrote: “If the pilot asks passengers to pray you know it’s a bad issue.”
A second said: “’Our survival depends on your cooperation’ coming from a pilot is about as reassuring as firefighter in a burning house handing me a bucket of water. You were trained for this, I’m just sitting in this death trap and try not to s**t myself.”
“When the captain asks you to pray… boy, you better pray,” typed another.Featured Image Credit: @maesaya/Instagram/@HajiAkil/X
Topics: Australia, Technology, Travel
