Pilot who thought co-pilot was joking found out he had died after landing

The 57-year-old pilot, who died in June 2022, had passed a routine medical examination four months earlier

Private jet (Colibri Aircraft/PA) (PA Media)

A pilot who continued to fly after his co-pilot suffered a cardiac arrest and died believed he was joking, a new safety report has revealed.

The pilot believed that his colleague was pretending to be asleep. It was only after the plane landed that he realised what had happened.

Following the event, The Air Accidents Investigation Branch launched an investigation in Blackpool. Concluding that its current medical assessments were acceptable, it found that risks “can never be reduced to zero.”

Notably, the report found that the surviving pilot was qualified and was able to land the plane safely. However, it notes that on another flight “the outcome could have been different.”

The 57-year-old pilot who died passed a routine medical examination four months earlier. He had agreed to join the Piper PA-28-161 light aircraft around Blackpool Airport, used as a base for private flights and the North West Air Ambulance Service, in June.

A second pilot was requested for safety reasons on account of the windy weather conditions.

As part of the investigation, the surviving pilot recalled how during the taxi the pair were conversing normally. Assisting his colleague, he had remarked “looks good, there is nothing behind you.”

Shortly afterwards, his head rolled back. The pilot – who knew his co-pilot well – believed that he was pretending to take a nap.

The plane turned, as did the deceased pilot’s head, to rest on his co-pilot’s shoulder. At this point, the surviving colleague still believed that this was a joke.

"The pilot still thought the instructor was just joking with him and continued to fly the approach”, the report said. The plane “landed normally” before the co-pilot “realised something was wrong”, calling for help.

The review, conducted by the Civil Aviation Authority’s medical department, concluded that the pilot – who also worked as a flight instructor – had died from a cardiac arrest.

It added that it continually reviews its health guidance, remarking that the “rarity” of accidents caused by cardiac events in flights "suggests the balance is currently about right.”

In November 2022, CNBC reported that an Envoy Air flight returned to Chicago shortly after take-off after its pilot was “incapacitated” and later died. According to FlightRadar24, the Columbus, Ohio-bound flight returned to Chicago 27 minutes after departure.