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Plane makes emergency landing after pilot faints onboard

According to recent reports, a Jet2 flight from the UK to Turkey had to make an emergency landing after the pilot onboard fainted.

A Jet2 plane had to make an emergency landing this past week. Photo: Judith Dahmen / flickr

Emergency landing after tricky turbulence

A Jet2 flight made an emergency landing this past Tuesday, 23 August, after its pilot reportedly fainted at 30 000 feet and the co-pilot had to take over in the cockpit.

The flight, which took off from Birmingham, England, was bound for Antalya, Turkey but was unfortunately diverted to Thessaloniki Airport in Greece after the pilot became unwell following a bout of turbulence, reports Business Insider.

Speaking to Birmingham Live, a passenger onboard said that while they were all seated, they noticed something going on at the front of the plane.

“We thought someone had hurt themselves in the toilet while experiencing turbulence. We were told we were landing in Greece due to a medical emergency on board. We weren’t told what part.” the passenger said.

“People were worried as we’d just been through turbulence and we didn’t know what was happening.” the passenger added, saying that their arrival in Turkey was delayed by eight hours.

According to Business Insider, a Jet2 spokesperson told them:

“Flight LS1239 from Birmingham to Antalya diverted to Thessaloniki Airport as a precautionary measure on Tuesday (August 23) due to one of the pilots feeling unwell. A replacement crew were flown to Thessaloniki so that we could get customers on their way to Antalya that same evening.”

“We communicated this to our customers as soon as possible, and our teams worked extremely hard to look after everyone. We would like to apologise to anyone affected by this unforeseen delay.” the spokesperson added.

ALSO READ: Ethiopian Airlines plane misses its descent due to snoozing pilots

Sundeeka Mungroo

Sundeeka Mungroo is a content writer, foodie and all-round adventure-seeker. She's a graduate of the University of South Africa with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature, and has worked as a copywriter and editor in the digital marketing industry. Sundeeka currently writes for I Love South Africa and The South African. She lives in the beautiful Mother City and loves exploring all that South Africa has to offer.

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