abcdef

Recently, people I know were in situations that required their planes to land while en route. First, engine problems on a plane belonging to a domestic airline were detected. Second, a man had a stroke while on an international flight (by the time he reached the hospital, he was declared brain dead). Both times, the planes had to fly approximately 3 hours to return to their point of departure, although they were still over land and could have easily landed in either Dallas or Chicago. In the first case, the outcome was okay but it is worrisome to think that something worse could have happened to the engine on the three hour return. The second case is more disturbing because a life may have been saved had he received immediate medical attention.

In conclusion, does anyoen know if there is an FAA policy that dictates that aircraft are required to return to the point to departure in emergency situation even if the situation could be life-threatening?

soccr

If I'm not mistaken (which I may well be), FAA guidelines have more to do with the nearest airport with facilities to deal with the problem -- whether medical or mechanical. The 2-3 times I've been on a flight with a medical problem, that was always the question asked by the pilot of whatever doc was looking at the sick person -- and there was always some calculation about whether Bangor or Rekyavik was closer than London or Glasgow, for example.

Your two incidents are perpexing indeed -- sounds like the airline was making decisions that had something to do with PR rather than expediency. Question: do you know if there was a doc on board the second flight?

abcdef

No, there was no doctor on the second flight.

I was a bit thrown off because Dallas and Chicago have two of the main airports in the US (which I'm sure would have the resources to treat any mechanical problems) and are in urban areas (so decent medical facilities should not be an issue). Flying 3 hrs back to NY and Miami seemed unnecessary and risky as the second case especially is case and point.

abcdef

By the way, I also wanted to add that the aircraft were right over Dallas and Chicago when the incidents happened so distance should not have been an issue.

What do you think?

NoFlyZone

There are no FAA rules on where a plane may land in case of any type of emergency. They leave all that up to the pilot (in conjunction with air traffic control).

However, the airline itself may have operating rules which apply.