United flight diverts after pilot becomes ill, loses consciousness

A United Airlines flight diverted to New Mexico after one of the pilots became ill and passed out Tuesday morning. The incident comes just one day after an American Airlines flight diverted after the captain became ill and died on an overnight "red eye" flight operated by that carrier.

In Tuesday morning's incident, United Airlines Flight 1614 departed Houston Bush Intercontinental for San Francisco at 7:40 a.m. CT (8:40 a.m. ET). Just about an hour into the flight, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner diverted and landed in Albuquerque at 8:18 a.m. MT (10:18 a.m. ET), according to data from flight-tracking site FlightAware.com.

Albuquerque airport spokesman Dan Jiron told The Associated Press air traffic controllers were told that the flight's first officer, who is second in command, had a medical episode. The plane landed without incident, Jiron said.

Jiron said the pilot regained consciousness and walked off the plane under his own power in Albuquerque, where he was taken to a hospital. It was not immediately clear what caused the pilot to lose consciousness.

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United confirmed the diversion in a statement to Today in the Sky.

"United flight 1614, en route from Houston to San Francisco, diverted to Albuquerque this morning when a crew member became ill," the airline said." The crew followed procedures and the aircraft landed safely. We are working to get our customers to their final destinations."

FlightAware showed that Flight 1614 had already resumed its journey to San Francisco, departing Albuquerque at around 12:07 p.m. MT (2:07 p.m. ET).

On Monday morning, an American Airlines pilot became ill and died on an overnight "red eye" flight from Phoenix to Boston. That flight diverted to Syracuse after the captain became ill.

While the incapacitation of a pilot during flight could raise concern among uneasy fliers, the captain and first officer are each capable of flying commercial airliners alone. The Federal Aviation Administration requires two crew members in the cockpit at all times for just such an emergency.

Patrick Smith, a pilot and author who writes the blog askthepilot.com, said captains and first officers are both experienced and both perform a same number of takeoffs and landings.

"That said, a pilot tasked with flying the plane alone will face additional challenges, but barring any serious malfunctions or additional emergencies, landing safely is nothing the average pilot couldn't handle with relative ease," Smith told USA TODAY.

Smith said a pilot alone at the controls and landing at an unfamiliar airport could be a bit disorienting.

"There's a familiar choreography to a normal, two-pilot operation, and the absence of the captain would have thrown off this choreography and increased his workload," Smith said. "However, while the workload might be higher and the routines out of synch, the tasks themselves, including the landing, are nothing the average copilot hasn't executed thousands of times in the course of a career."