When His Instructor Died, Pilot Thought It Was A 'Joke' And Kept Flying

A flying instructor died mid-flight after suffering a cardiac arrest, but his co-pilot thought his colleague was just pretending to be asleep as a joke, a safety report has revealed. The details of the incident, which happened near Blackpool Airport in Lancashire, England in 2022, were recently published by U.K.'s Air Accidents Investigation Branch.

On June 2022, a qualified pilot asked a 57-year-old flying instructor to accompany him aboard the four-person Piper PA-28 for safety reasons during windy conditions. Shortly after takeoff, the pilot said, he noticed the instructor's head had rolled back.

“The pilot knew the instructor well and thought he was just pretending to take a nap whilst the pilot flew the circuit, so he did not think anything was wrong at this stage,” the report states. The unsuspecting pilot continued the flight with the instructor's head slumped over his shoulder, and landed safely at Blackpool Airport in Lancashire on June 29. 

However, the instructor didn't respond even after landing, and that's when the pilot realized something was wrong. He signalled to the airport fire crew, who came to assist. The fire crew and the air ambulance medical crew attempted to revive the instructor but he remained unresponsive and they were unable to save him. 

An autopsy found that the instructor died from acute cardiac failure. He had a medical history of high blood pressure and had been taking medication since 2002.

A report by Air Accidents Investigation Branch reads, ''The post-mortem concluded that the instructor died from acute cardiac failure. His coronary arteries showed diffuse atheromatous disease (a condition where the arteries become clogged with fatty substances) and there was a coronary thrombus (blood clot) occluding his left main stem artery. Toxicology showed no significant findings. He had a medical history of hypertensive disease (high blood pressure) and had been taking blood pressure medication since 2002..''

Those who spoke to the victim on the morning of his death said he was his normal, cheerful self and there were no signs he wasn't feeling well.