Yesterday afternoon, an Air Canada Express flight operated by a PAL Airlines De Havilland Canada DHC-8 twin-turboprop regional airliner had to make an emergency diversion to Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) after its Captain suffered a seizure during the flight. The plane had been flying from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to Halifax Stanfield International Airport (YHZ) at the time.

Such was the extent of the Captain’s medical emergency that he had to be restrained in the cabin due to his out-of-control movements. Thankfully, the flight’s First Officer was able to take control of the plane, and it landed in Boston a short while thereafter. Here, the Captain was taken to hospital, with the aircraft eventually continuing on its journey to Halifax as planned, albeit with a considerable delay.

An Unplanned Stopover

Credit: Flightradar24

Air Canada Express flight AC7664 is a daily scheduled international passenger flight from Newark to Halifax. According to tracking data made available by Flightradar24, the flight is scheduled to leave Newark at 12:45 PM, with its arrival into Halifax timed for 4:01 PM, some two hours and 16 minutes later. Yesterday, however, it arrived in Nova Scotia with a delay of almost five hours due to an emergency.

Indeed, according to ABC News, the Captain suffered a seizure during the flight, briefly causing the aircraft to swerve in midair. View From The Wing highlighted the fact that, while not violent, the seizure caused the pilot to make out-of-control movements, forcing passengers to restrain him in the cabin. The First Officer subsequently landed the plane, with CityNews quoting an Air Canada spokesperson as saying:

“Pilots are trained to fly aircraft and land safely without the assistance of a second pilot. There were 61 customers aboard the aircraft, a De Havilland Q400.”

Onwards To Halifax

Credit: Flightradar24

The urgent nature of the situation meant that, when the First Officer landed the plane after taking over from the stricken Captain, they did not do so at Halifax / Stanfield International Airport as planned. Indeed, Boston was chosen as the point of diversion for the service, with an air traffic controller reportedly telling another inbound aircraft that the Dash 8 “may have an issue getting off the runway.”

CityNews also quotes a spokesperson for Boston Logan International Airport as having said that “Massport Fire Rescue and Boston EMS responded to the crew as necessary.” Once on the ground, the Captain was taken to hospital, while Air Canada worked to resolve the issue of onward travel for the flight’s 61 passengers. In the end, the aircraft operating it continued on to Halifax, as seen in the map above.

After leaving Newark at 12:54 PM yesterday afternoon, the flight’s initial touchdown in Boston took place an hour and two minutes later, at 1:56 PM. It would then be almost five-and-a-half hours before the aircraft was able to continue, with it eventually taking off again from Boston at 7:20 PM. An hour and 11 minutes later, it landed in Halifax at 9:31 PM local time, representing a delay of almost five hours.

The Aircraft Is Back On Schedule Today

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

According to tracking data from Flightradar24, the DHC-8 twin-turboprop regional airliner that was operating Air Canada Express flight AC7664 yesterday when its Captain suffered a seizure was a PAL Airlines plane that bears the registration C-GPOE. This regional aircraft is 25 years old, and it is frequently seen operating flights in and out of Halifax, providing vital aerial connectivity to Nova Scotia.

After landing at Stanfield International Airport late yesterday evening, C-GPOE called it a night, and it is now back on schedule. At the time of writing, it had already operated one flight today, namely a 7:15 AM departure to Ottawa (YOW) that took an hour and 50 minutes and landed slightly early. From there, it will fly onwards to Quebec (YQB) and back to Ottawa, followed by a flight to Fredericton (YFC).