Pilot Suffers Fatal Heart Attack in Airplane Bathroom During Flight to Chile

A pilot went into cardiac arrest in the bathroom on a commercial flight and later died.

Minutes after an airliner took off from Miami, an announcement was made: “Is there a doctor on the plane?”

The 56-year-old chief pilot had suffered a heart attack in the bathroom during a flight to Chile.

There were two doctors and two nurses on board who tried to revive the pilot but a person who said she was one of the nurses claimed in a social media post that they did not have the right equipment to resuscitate him, and the pilot died. All U.S. airlines are required to carry defibrillators, but not all foreign airlines are.

“We did not have the necessary supplies to perform a good resuscitation,” she posted.

A LATAM Airlines spokesperson did not respond directly when asked if there was a defibrillator, which shocks the heart to restore a normal heartbeat, on the plane.

“All the necessary protocols were followed during the flight to safeguard the life of the affected pilot. Unfortunately, after landing and receiving further medical assistance, the pilot passed away,” the airline said in a statement to Inside Edition.

A FlightAware radar tracker showed the plane diverting to Panama City where the co-pilot safely landed the plane. Relieved passengers applauded the co-pilot. There was another ovation for the crew from the Chilean airline as they walked through the airport terminal.

Bob Arnot, a doctor and experienced pilot, spoke with Inside Edition.

“When you do CPR it’s only a bridge to a defibrillator,” Arnot says. “If you can’t get to the defibrillator, you’re probably not going to revive that person. So it is an absolute necessity.”

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