V-Flyer

I've just travelled on the VS001 from London to Newark on Weds. About 2 hours into the flight there was a medical emergency on board. The call went out for a doctor on board.

About 45 mins later the captain announced the passenger had died of a suspected heart attack.

The crew were excellent - did all they could for the poor guy and despite this happening and the use of one of the galleys to try to help the passenger - managed to still serve a full meal service on board. This couple with the IFE system not working until about 90 mins prior to landing at Newark they had a huge amount to contend with and acted totally professionally throughout.

All due credit to an excellent team.

What a terribly sad and difficult, flight but good to hear the crew dealt with the emergency so well. I hope all the pax were as understanding as you, situations like this are very hard emotionally and physically for the crew and clinicians involved and they need all the support they can get.

How sad. I'm slightly surprised the captain told the whole plane the person had died. Really makes you appreciate the levels of training & professionalism the crew have to maintain

I'm shocked the captain told the pax they thought the passenger had died! It's not something's that done usually to my knowledge. I've heard stories of crew putting the passenger in the toilet for the remainder of the flight and closing the toilet off, not the nicest thing but I wouldn't really want to know someone just died halfway through a flight, would make me feel rather morbid. Still, kudos to the crew for dealing with it so well.

I suspect there was a lot of agitation in the cabin especially in the area near where the person had died with rumours and counter-rumours abounding which were beginning to escalate through the plane as a whole and creating a great deal of anxiety. The captain may have well made the decision to tell the whole flight as a calming mechanism.

I'm kind of half surprised they didn't divert. After all, if it was only two hours into the flight they would only have been an hour from Shannon but maybe the poor soul was gone beyond medical help even at that early stage

45 minutes between the request and the announcement suggest it was quick and there was a doctor on board to call it.

I've heard about the use of the toilet before, but there's also the report of them being moved to an empty BA F seat.

Thanks for posting. Must have been very stressful for all concerned.

As well as posting on here I hope you send an email to VS. I'm sure all the staff on the flight will appreciate a message of support / thanks etc

honey lamb wrote:I suspect there was a lot of agitation in the cabin especially in the area near where the person had died with rumours and counter-rumours abounding which were beginning to escalate through the plane as a whole and creating a great deal of anxiety. The captain may have well made the decision to tell the whole flight as a calming mechanism.

I'm kind of half surprised they didn't divert. After all, if it was only two hours into the flight they would only have been an hour from Shannon but maybe the poor soul was gone beyond medical help even at that early stage

These were my first thoughts too when I read the post.

What a sad thing to happen.

When a passenger dies inflight you will do all you can to maintain their dignity and look after any friends/family with them which does not involve putting them in a toilet!!

True, although that story that I heard about the toilet was from at least 10 years ago.
You hear about it quite alot though, creeps me out.

My thoughts go out to the person's travelling companions and family.

So often folks are quick to knock the crew - but here is an instance where their professionalism shone through - well done to all concerned

buns

I think people welcomed the update from the captain, even though it was sad news. After a call went out for a Dcotor on board at least two trained medical professionals attended.

The Captain did come back into the cabin for a while and then returned to the flight deck. The announcement was made of the death shortly after that.

There were also a couple of what I assume was coded annoucnements of the type - Cabin Crew EMR to 3 Doors. Followed by EMR collected.

The crew handled the situation with a lot of dignity and professionalism.

We did half expect a diversion but the decision was taken to continue to Newark.

I agree with the comment above and have already emailed VS to praise their excellent team.

Wow, that's awful. So glad the crew kept as calm as they could and in turn kept the pax calm too.

Hi Everyone,
I feel I need to post the facts on the above incident, one of my close friends is one of the crew onboard this flight dealing with the medical emergency.
Yes a young man only 35 years old died onboard, the crew used the AED and along with several paramedics/doctors tried to save his live, but due to his condition this was not possible. The incident was quite brief and all concerned were really unable to help this man. From him collapsing the AED was used by the crew in under 2 minutes, much quicker than an ambulance could done.
It is normal for any flight to continue to its destination if all attempts to revive someone have failed, diverting the aircraft to offload a dead body is pointless.
We have NEVER been trained to place a body into a toilet, we are all highly trained to treat a body with respect and to observe any religious/cultural wishes of travelling family etc.
Obviously if we have a medical emergency onboard we put out coded announcements to the crew for equiptment etc, and also tell passengers in that area we are dealing with a medical situation so either all sit down or move away from the scene, as this happened in the middle of economy most pasengers could see what was going on, thats why the captain decided to keep everyone updated.
This is one of the wosrt things for the crew to deal with onboard, sometimes we can save someones live sometimes not. I glad our crew training and aftercare is so good,and wish my fellow crew my best wishes.
Something like this brings life into prespective the next time you do not get your choice of meal or your IFE is broken take a moment to ask yourself is it really worth getting upset about!!??

Virgin FSM

As I mentioned in my last post, the story of putting somone in a toilet was from at least 10 years ago, and I shall add not with VS.