A major disaster was averted when 15 minutes after takeoff, the pilot of a passenger plane in Indonesia experienced a medical emergency. He was forced to land at the airport before being taken to the hospital, where he eventually passed away. The Citilink Indonesia flight, an Airbus A320 with more than 100 passengers on board, departed from the international airport in Surabaya, East Java, and was on its route to the city of Ujung Pandang in South Sulawesi province. It should be mentioned that the pilot's death's immediate cause was unknown.
The airline said it had conducted health checks prior to the flight for all crew on duty and that they were "declared fit or airworthy," according to a statement from Dewa Kadek Rai, the president director of PT Citilink Indonesia.
The passengers and the rest of the crew were safe, and the flight later reached its destination with a new aircraft and crew. Citilink Indonesia is a low-cost carrier and a subsidiary of the state-owned carrier Garuda Indonesia Group. It serves more than 100 routes to 47 domestic and international destinations.
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Indonesian airlines were banned in 2007 from flying to Europe because of safety concerns, though several were allowed to resume services in the following decade. The ban was completely lifted in 2018.
Indonesia's aviation record is one of the worst in Asia, with more civilian airliner passenger accidents since 1945 than any other country in the region. Past accidents have been attributed to poor pilot training, mechanical failures, air traffic control issues, and poor aircraft maintenance.
With inputs from AP
