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Lufthansa plane flown by autopilot after pilot faints in cockpit

The captain was in the bathroom when his colleague lost consciousness, leaving the aircraft carrying 199 passengers without a pilot.

A Lufthansa flight was flown by autopilot when the co-pilot, alone in the cockpit as the pilot had stepped away to use the bathroom, fainted, Spanish investigators said in a report about an incident last year that was released on Saturday. The Airbus A321 flew without a pilot in charge for 10 minutes, the Spanish accident investigation authority CIAIAC said of the flight on February 17, 2024 from Frankfurt to Seville. Although the unconscious co-pilot apparently unintentionally operated the controls, the aircraft continued to fly stably thanks to the active autopilot.

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