Flight to Boston Diverted After Pilot Dies

A flight bound for Boston from Phoenix, AZ, was diverted to Syracuse after one of the pilots died in-flight.

American Airlines Flight 550, a red eye flight that departed from Arizona just after midnight, Pacific time, landed in Syracuse, NY, just after 7 a.m. Monday after the plane’s captain reportedly died. One of the flight attendants on the crew, who is also a nurse, reportedly tried to save the captain, to no avail.

“Syracuse, American 550, medical emergency, captain is incapacitated, request handling for runway,” a transcript of the co-pilot’s radio transmission said.

There were reportedly 147 passengers and five crew members aboard the flight. A second flight crew was sent to Syracuse to continue the plane’s course to Boston.

There is no word yet on the cause of the pilot’s death.

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