October 9, 2024, 6:28 am | Read time: 4 minutes
Several circumstances can lead to the death of a passenger on board of an aircraft. From a purely technical point of view, however, this is not possible in most cases. TRAVELBOOK explains the background.
Airline crew members must be prepared for the fact that passengers may develop health problems in the air. In the worst-case scenario, these end in death. However, in the actual case of someone dying during a flight, none of the flight attendants are authorized to determine the time of death.
This was also confirmed by the Federal Aviation Office (LBA) when asked by TRAVELBOOK: “Flight attendants and pilots are not allowed to declare anyone dead. If there is no doctor on board, cardiopulmonary resuscitation must continue until the emergency services arrive on the ground. The captain decides when and where to land in each individual case.”
Who can determine the time of death?
Only doctors are authorized and even obliged to carry out a post-mortem examination and issue a death certificate. The “Guideline Rules for the Performance of the Medical post-mortem Examination” oblige the doctor to make the following determinations:
– Personal details
– Death
– Time of death
– Manner of death
– Cause of death
The post-mortem examination and the subsequent issuance of the death certificate must be conducted with meticulous attention to detail. This means that the doctor must obtain certainty about the occurrence of death with sufficient lighting.
Given this fact, a death can only be technically declared on a flight if a doctor is present on board to perform the necropsy. “If there is a doctor on board, he can pronounce a passenger dead. Resuscitation is then discontinued. With some companies, doctors traveling as passengers and acting as first responders are insured if they act in accordance with Section 323 c of the German Criminal Code (failure to render assistance),” the LBA explained.
Three categories for potential flight fatalities
In an interview with the BBC, Dr. Paulo Alves, Global Medical Director at MedAire, which provides medical support for aircraft in the air from the ground, divided potential on-board fatalities into three categories:
- Those passengers for whom the medical emergency occurs completely unexpectedly.
- Passengers who are terminally ill and have to travel for medical reasons.
- Passengers who know that they are ill and still want to travel – often without having consulted a doctor beforehand.
Unexpected emergencies include heart attacks, strokes or accidents such as choking. Terminally ill people would be transported if they needed medical care elsewhere or were being taken to a specific place to die. However, Alves considers individuals in the third category to be of the utmost importance. In most cases, in his opinion, patients are not even aware of the dangers of boarding a plane when they are ill. The expert called this type of traveler “resolute passengers” who either wanted to return home under any circumstances or did not want to cancel their trip due to a lack of travel insurance.
What happens in the event of someone dying during a flight?
If a passenger is dying during the flight, the crew will receive instructions from trained experts on the ground, among other things. According to the LBA, some airlines have a radio link to the ground station called “Medlink”. There are medical professionals based there who can make decisions about procedures and actions. “Some airlines (Emirates, for example) have cameras and a video link for such cases,” the LBA continued.
A death on board does not automatically mean that a plane is diverted. This is decided by the crew, depending on the situation. If the flight circumstances allow it, for example, if there is still a long flight ahead or the flight attendants decide that further hours in the air would be emotionally unacceptable for the employees or relatives, the direction of the flight can be changed.
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What happens to the bodies of the deceased?
“Some airlines carry body bags. As a rule, an empty row is sought, for example, in a separate compartment, if possible,” the LBA spokesperson explains to TRAVELBOOK. Often, however, there is no extra space to accommodate bodies. This means that the dead have to be returned to their seats, as the BBC writes. Placing them in the toilet cubicle or in the aisle would violate safety regulations. It could also be dangerous for other passengers.
The Singapore Airlines A340-500 aircraft model is an exception. The airline offered the longest non-stop flight in the world, from Singapore to New York, until 2013. It reintroduced it to its service in 2018; the maximum flight duration is 18 hours, 45 minutes. Due to this long duration, a kind of locker was already installed in the aircraft at the time, in which the dead could be accommodated, as reported by the “Telegraph“. This discreet locker was located next to one of the aircraft exits and was long enough to accommodate a body.