A pilot incapacitated, a crash landing and a close call. What we know about the latest aviation incidents
A pilot suffering a medical emergency, a plane being forced down in Alaska and passenger jets nearly colliding in Boston are the latest aviation incidents under investigation as the busy summer air travel season begins.
While each event is very different, they can all be scary for travelers planning to fly as America’s 250th anniversary approaches.
The Transportation Security Administration expects approximately 18.7 million passengers to be screened at U.S. airport security checkpoints during the busy July 4th weekend, June 30 through July 6.
The latest events are also coming in just a few weeks There were four plane crashes in the USA in four days. None of the crashes were related, but 21 people lost their lives.
Passengers should feel safe on the plane; But these incidents occur all over the world, according to Ed Pierson, executive director of the Aviation Safety Foundation.
“What you really need to do is investigate these things and say, ‘Okay, what happened, how can we fix this (and) make sure we don’t make that mistake again,'” he said.
Here’s what we know about what’s happening in the skies.
Air Canada plane made an emergency landing due to pilot immobility
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The pilot of Air Canada Flight 7664, traveling from Newark Liberty International Airport to Halifax, Nova Scotia, There was a medical emergency in the cockpit.
Passenger Rodney McDonald told the ABC: “As soon as the plane changed direction I knew something was wrong because it wasn’t turbulence.” “One of the flight attendants frantically entered the cockpit and a few minutes later dragged one of the pilots out of the cockpit.”
The flight, operated by PAL Airlines, was directed to Boston Logan International Airport. The co-pilot took over flying, made an emergency landing, and came to a stop just off the runway.
“During the flight, the captain experienced a medical issue and was removed from the flight deck in accordance with safety protocols,” the airline said in a statement. “Pilots are trained to fly aircraft and land safely without the assistance of a second pilot.”
McDonald told the ABC it was clear the captain “could not control his abilities” and she restrained him in consultation with a nurse on board.
“(We) worked to get him under control. It was a pretty grueling 40 minutes, using as many harnesses as possible to hold him down and restrain his legs, arms and chest,” McDonald said.
In the video published by CNN affiliate WCVB, emergency teams can be seen surrounding the plane and helping the pilot down the stairs to a waiting ambulance. He was then taken to a hospital in Boston.
There were 61 passengers on board, according to Air Canada, which said it was working to help everyone “complete their journey as quickly as possible.”
Plane with 10 people on board crashed in Alaska
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A passenger on a small commercial airplane dramatic video was shot That’s when the Cessna 208 Caravan made an emergency landing in rural Alaska on Monday.
The Wright Air Service commuter flight connected the small Alaskan towns of Coldfoot and Anaktuvuk Pass. Gates of the Arctic National Park.
The pilot reported engine problems shortly after takeoff, leading to a forced landing, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
Video shot by passenger Brett Fillipi shows the single-engine propeller plane bouncing across a mountain meadow and coming to a halt with its nose hitting the ground.
“Something went wrong with the plane and we had to make an emergency landing in the bush,” Fillipi said as he and other passengers applauded the pilot.
There were 10 people on the 7-year-old plane. It’s unclear if anyone was injured, but the video shows all passengers walking around after exiting the plane.
While the plane suffered major damage, the passengers were rescued by helicopter.
Wright Air carries about 40,000 passengers a year on scheduled flights, according to its website, including trips to small towns like Anaktuvuk Pass that rely on air travel to connect to the outside world.
“We intend to maintain and operate to the highest levels of security standards while providing the best possible customer service,” the website states.
The Federal Aviation Administration and NTSB are investigating what caused the crash.
Close call between two passenger jets in Boston
A jet landed in Boston almost collided Another plane took off on an intersecting runway, prompting FAA and NTSB investigations.
The pilots of Delta Air Lines Flight 2351 aborted their landing approach to Boston Logan International Airport around 11:30 a.m. Saturday when they saw American Airlines Flight 3161 accelerating for takeoff on a vertical runway.
Delta pilots circled the airport in a procedure called a missed approach before landing safely on their second attempt. The planes were only a few hundred meters away at closest point.
is a wander around safety maneuver Pilots can use it when there is a problem with the approach. It can be as simple as reacting to a change in the wind, but it is also used for more serious “runway incursions” where planes, vehicles or people accidentally end up on the runway.
Despite recent high-profile runway incursionsfatal collision The FAA says the number of Air Canada flights landing at New York’s La Guardia Airport when a fire truck crossed the runway has actually decreased.
In 2023, the FAA recorded 21 serious runway infractions, but so far in 2026, the FAA has reported only four. Sometimes stopping a close call from turning into a disaster depends on one person seeing it and taking action.
“These close calls remind us that the margins are tight in the calculations made by pilots and air traffic controllers,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth, the ranking member of the aviation subcommittee, said at this week’s hearing. “In most of these incidents, the difference between a close call and a fatal disaster comes down to a single, highly trained and professional person taking emergency action.”
Runway incursions are just one type of close call, and there are many more the public has never heard of, said Chris Sununu, president and CEO of airline lobbying group Airlines for America.
“There are thousands of near misses that make the headlines, probably many more than what is publicly seen,” he testified. “There are hundreds every day.”
CNN’s Aaron Cooper, Pete Muntean and Danya Gainor contributed to this report.
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