Air Canada’s midair emergency had passengers doing the unthinkable

An Air Canada flight traveling from Newark to Halifax diverted to Boston on Wednesday after the captain experienced a medical emergency in the cockpit, leaving the first officer to fly the aircraft alone while several passengers spent approximately 40 minutes physically restraining the incapacitated pilot in the aisle.

The flight, Air Canada Flight AC7664, is operated by regional partner PAL Airlines using a De Havilland Q400 aircraft. All 61 passengers landed safely at Boston Logan International Airport, and the captain was transported by ambulance to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was receiving treatment as of Wednesday evening.

What passengers experienced

A passenger named Rodney McDonald, traveling with his wife and two sons, described the moment the emergency began. The aircraft lurched in a way that did not feel like turbulence, he said, and the motion repeated. A flight attendant rushed into the cockpit and shortly afterward pulled one of the pilots into the aisle.

McDonald and roughly four other passengers moved to help. The pilot appeared to be experiencing a seizure, and the group worked to keep him restrained using seatbelts across his arms, legs, and chest. A registered nurse on board helped direct passengers and assist the pilot throughout the event. The flight attendants, McDonald said, remained calm throughout, which he credited as a steadying force for everyone else on board.

The first officer flew the aircraft through the emergency and completed the diversion and landing without assistance from the captain.

Medical guidance from the CDC advises that people who appear to be having a seizure should not be held down due to the risk of further injury. Instead, the area should be cleared of sharp objects, the person should be turned gently on their side, and their airway should be kept clear. The passengers on board were acting instinctively and without access to that guidance in real time.

Air Canada said in a statement that pilots are trained to fly and land an aircraft safely without a second pilot present, and that the airline was working to arrange alternate travel for all passengers to complete their journeys.

Part of a broader pattern

The Air Canada incident is one of three aviation events under investigation in the United States this week as the summer travel season reaches its peak volume. The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen nearly 18.7 million travelers at US airport security checkpoints between June 30 and July 6.

A separate incident Monday involved a Wright Air Service Cessna 208 Caravan commuter flight carrying 10 people that made an emergency crash landing in a mountain meadow in rural Alaska after the pilot reported engine problems shortly after takeoff from Coldfoot, en route to Anaktuvuk Pass. Video captured by a passenger showed the nose of the aircraft slamming into the ground before coming to a stop. All passengers appeared to exit the plane on foot, though whether anyone sustained injuries was not immediately confirmed. They were later rescued by helicopter. The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.

The third incident involved a near-collision at Boston Logan on Saturday, when Delta Air Lines Flight 2351 aborted its landing approach after spotting American Airlines Flight 3161 accelerating for takeoff on a perpendicular runway. The Delta pilots executed a go-around, a standard safety procedure for situations where a landing approach must be abandoned, and landed safely on their second attempt. The two aircraft came within several hundred feet of each other at their closest point. The FAA and NTSB are also investigating that event.

Aviation safety experts have noted that while high-profile incidents have drawn significant attention in recent months, runway incursion data has actually trended downward. The FAA recorded 21 serious runway incursions in 2023 and has recorded only four so far in 2026. The incidents nonetheless underscore how frequently pilots, first officers, and air traffic controllers make rapid decisions that prevent close calls from becoming disasters.