An Air Canada flight had to be diverted to Boston Wednesday after the captain experienced a medical emergency.
Air Canada Flight 7664, which took off from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, about 9 miles west of New York City, was diverted after the crew reported the medical emergency, the Federal Aviation Administration said on its website.
Passenger Rodney McDonald told ABC News that “the moment the plane swerved, I knew something was wrong because it was not turbulence. It really felt like someone had jilted the controls and then it happened over and over again.”
Mr. McDonald told ABC News that a flight attendant entered the cockpit and dragged out the captain, who appeared to be having a seizure.
Afterwards, Mr. McDonald told ABC News, he and others “worked to get him under control, it was a fairly strenuous 40 minutes of keeping him down and using as many seatbelts as we could to restrain his legs, arms and chest.”
The flight, operated by Air Canada regional partner PAL Airlines, was initially headed for Halifax Stanfield International Airport in Goffs, Nova Scotia, Canada, about 415 miles northeast of Boston. It instead landed at Boston Logan International Airport just before 2 p.m., according to flight tracking website FlightAware.
The other pilot on board, the first officer, landed the plane safely. The captain was taken for medical treatment in Boston, and the airline helped the 61 passengers make new travel arrangements, Air Canada told the CBC.
A flight from Boston took off at 7:21 p.m. and landed at the Halifax airport at about 9:30 p.m. local time Wednesday, according to FlightAware.
