Pilot dies during flight: 147 passengers saved when American Airlines pilot dies

The pilot who died during Flight 550 from Phoenix to Boston has been identified as American Airlinespilot Michael Johnston. Captain Johnston, 57, died reportedly from a heart attack during Monday's red-eye flight. Johnston’s co-pilot landed the Airbus A320 plane with 147 passengers and five crew members on board safely.

As reported by The Dallas Morning News on October 5, following Johnston’s death mid-air, American Airlines Flight 550 made an emergency landing at 7:13 a.m. at Hancock International Airport in Syracuse, New York. Johnston’s first officer, who had taken over control of the plane and landed it safely, did not continue the flight to Boston.http://www.examiner.com/

According to American spokeswoman Andrea Huguely, “the first officer, the other pilot on the plane, did not fly the rest of the flight per ‘standard procedure’. American flew in a relief crew from Philadelphia to Syracuse and the new crew continued the last leg of the flight to Boston, landing around 12:34 p.m. Eastern Time.”

One of the passengers on board Flight 550 said that she had been dozing off on the red-eye flight when one of the flight attendants told her that the plane would be making an emergency landing in Syracuse due to the pilot being ill. The passenger described the mood on board as “somber” and highly praised the crew‘s professional and calm handling of the situation.

Some passengers reported turbulence and a quick descent shortly before the announcement came that the captain of Flight 550 wasn’t feeling well. Some passengers said that the landing in Syracuse was hard. EMTs did not rush to the plane, indicating that the pilot had already died.

In audio from the cockpit obtained by CBS Boston by Live ATC.net, the co-pilot can be heard calling the control tower: "A medical emergency. Captain is incapacitated, request handling for runway one zero landing."

Johnston had been flying for America West Airlines since January 1990 as a first officer on the Bombardier Dash-8. After flying the Boeing 737 and the Boeing 757, he became a captain on the A320. Johnston’s wife Betty Jean said that her husband had a double bypass in 2006 and that he had to undergo a physical every six months to make sure he was healthy enough to fly.

The pilot who died during his flight died doing what he loved to do, according to his wife. While a medical examiner still has to confirm Michael Johnston’s official cause of death, Betty Jean was told that her husband “likely died of a heart attack.”