A British Airways pilot has been taken to hospital after suffering a “foul smell” and becoming ill in the cockpit during a flight to London. The Captain and First Officer of a British Airways flight were forced to wear breathing masks Thursday morning after reporting the smell. The aircraft, which took off from Newcastle in the early hours of Thursday morning, landed at London’s Heathrow Airport after contacting ground emergency services.
A British Airways flight to London has been brought to a halt after the captain and first officer were overcome by a foul odor forcing them to put on oxygen masks as they hovered above 30,000 feet. The incident forced the pilots to call emergency services on-board, resulting in the plane landing at London’s Heathrow Airport. The pilots were rushed to hospital after they collapsed, amid fears that they had been exposed to toxic chemicals. Firefighters and ambulance crews were called to British Airways’ Crew Report Centre, where they were first diagnosed with smoke inhalation.
BA Captain and Co-Pilot Accident
They were then taken to hospital for further checks. A source said: “It’s a shock. The immediate worry is for the pilots. But it’s equally worrying what would have happened if the two cockpit crew members had been drunk when they were in charge of a crowded aircraft at 25,000ft. It’s just too awful to think about.” Police have opened an investigation into the incident. British Airways said in a statement: “The flight landed at Heathrow at 09:14 a.m. this morning and all customers disembarked in a normal manner. There was a minor technical problem with the aircraft and the pilots were able to land safely.” Earlier it was reported that the pilots were alive. The incident occurred on a BA Shuttle 13 C flight, which took off from Newcastle Airport at 7:41 a.m. The scheduled departure time was 6 a.m.
The flight arrived 91 minutes late, causing it to be delayed for over an hour and a half. The airline said that emergency services were called out to the aircraft as a ‘precautionary measure’. This comes after a British Airways passenger fell ill on a flight from Barcelona on October 9, causing cabin crew to put on chemical suits. Passengers had to wait for almost two hours before being released, as they feared toxic fumes. Earlier this year, BA flight 176 had to be diverted back to New York because of a bad smell. The airline said it was a technical issue, but the Unite union said BA manipulated statistics to make it look like it wasn’t as common as it was. The incident happened at Terminal 5 at Hounslow Airport on October 19.
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