A Lufthansa flight on an Airbus A321-200, travelling towards Seville, encountered an unusual where it flew without a pilot for about ten minutes.
This occurred after the first officer had a seizure, shortly following the captain’s temporary absence from the cockpit. The captain then took charge landed the aircraft at Madrid Airport (MAD) instead.
Carrying 199 passengers and six crew, the A321 landed without any further issues, and the first officer was taken to a hospital. The event, which happened on February 17, 2024, led Spain’s Civil Aviation accident and incident investigation commission (CIAIAC) to conclude in their May 2025 final report that having another qualified person present in the cockpit is beneficial when a pilot leaves for physiological or operational reasons.
On February 17th 2024, Lufthansa flight LH 1140, utilizing an Airbus A321-200 with the registration number D-AISO, took off from Frankfurt Airport (FRA), Germany, at 08:39 UTC, heading towards its destination at Sevilla Airport (SVQ) in Spain.
Approximately 88 nautical miles northeast of Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD), while over the Iberian Peninsula, the co-pilot became suddenly and severely incapacitated while he was the only one in the cockpit.
The final investigation report revealed that the first officer inadvertently activated the aircraft’s controls during this incapacitation.
Around 10:31 UTC into the flight, the captain exited the cockpit to go to the forward lavatory. Before doing so, the captain had discussed the weather conditions and aircraft operation with the first officer, who appeared to be “fit and attentive” throughout their conversation.
Upon returning to the cockpit at 10:39 UTC and discovering the first officer was incapacitated, the captain employed the emergency code to manage the A321 and made the decision for an emergency landing at MAD.
The report detailed that the captain held the role of pilot monitoring, and the first officer was the pilot operating the aircraft. This flight marked the end of a four-day work cycle for the flight crew.
The captain’s assessment was that for the three days preceding the event, the co-pilot had fulfilled his responsibilities according to the company’s standard operating procedures (SOPs), consistently exhibiting a strong drive.
