Report: Co-Pilot Landed Plane After Pilot Fainted

It was a routine Switzerland-to-France flight, until the captain slumped forward and accidentally steered the plane off course, investigators say. A newly released report from the Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board details the Aug. 11, 2018, incident aboard an Airbus A320 holding 166 passengers, in which the captain began feeling ill near landing, told his co-pilot they'd need to land the jet, then lost consciousness, per People. As the pilot blacked out, his weight on the controls twice sent the Swiss Air aircraft into slight banks—first 10 degrees right, then 8 degrees left—both of which were corrected by the co-pilot, the report notes.

The jet remained below its ideal glide path as the co-pilot continued the approach, according to the report; the captain came to at about 200 feet. After landing in Nice, France, the co-pilot declared a "Pan Pan" medical emergency and requested to bring the aircraft to a halt shortly after leaving the runway, as the captain vomited repeatedly. Simple Flying notes that a "Pan Pan" emergency is just one step below a "Mayday"—meaning there's "an urgent, but not immediate, life-threatening danger to the plane." Subsequent tests determined the captain had food poisoning. No injuries or damage were reported.