Westjet 697 - CYUL to CYWG - Jan 06, 2009 - Captain falls ill; divert to CYQT

[kea001]

The first officer of a Westjet Boeing 737-600, registration C-GWSL performing flight WS-697 from Montreal,QC to Winnipeg,MB (Canada) with 89 people on board, declared emergency reporting his captain ill and diverted to Thunder Bay,ON for a safe landing 23 minutes later. The captain was taken to hospital.

http://avherald.com/h?article=41350fe9&opt=1

[ect76]

Very nice clip compiled over a number of feeds - Many thanks for the work!

I didn't hear any reference on the clip of the captain himself being ill - Only of a medical emergency on board. I guess the captain info must have come from a different source? The FO did sound like he was a little snowed under with workload at certain points! My best wishes to the captain for a speedy recovery.

[kea001]

All of the different feeds were combined into the CYQT archive before I touched them.  Don't know how that is done.
So for future reference, if you are interested in something occurring within Winnipeg Centre, this is where you can hear it.

I don't know where AV Herald gets their info from. You are correct that there is no mention of the captain in the feed.



 
 

[jordan1900d]

Rumack: What was it we had for dinner tonight?
Elaine Dickinson: Well, we had a choice of steak or fish.
Rumack: Yes, yes, I remember, I had lasagna.

[kea001]

Rumack: What was it we had for dinner tonight?
Elaine Dickinson: Well, we had a choice of steak or fish.
Rumack: Yes, yes, I remember, I had lasagna.

That's the first thing I thought of.  If you remember the first 'Airport' movie, the novel was written by Arthur Hailey.
The first project Hailey ever did was actually a 'teleplay' he wrote for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. called
'Flight Into Danger', with then unknown actor,  James Doohan (a.k.a. Scotty, beam me up).

It was about a pilot that gets food poisoning. Anyway, this teleplay was then made into a feature film with the title

Zero Hour! (1958)



The producers of the movie 'Airplane' bought the rights to Zero Hour! and used whole chunks of the script almost verbatim, only with comic effect.

As if they hadn't exhausted the storyline, Terror in the Sky , a rehash of Zero Hour! was released in 1971.

[canuck101]

I don't know where AV Herald gets their info from. You are correct that there is no mention of the captain in the feed.

CADORS and the TSB.

[flyboy2757]

Hmm. I host the CYQT feed. Too bad I turned off the recorder.

[muttech]

You are correct that there is no mention of the captain in the feed.

Actually at 1:59 the controller asks "Do you have any additional information on the pilot or anything else that you wanted us to pass along?"

That was confirmation to me that the medical emergency was indeed the pilot.

[kea001]

Actually at 1:59 the controller asks "Do you have any additional information on the pilot or anything else that you wanted us to pass along?"

That was confirmation to me that the medical emergency was indeed the pilot.

Sorry I missed that.  I only listened to it about, what,  8 or 9 times.   

Hmm. I host the CYQT feed. Too bad I turned off the recorder.

Thanks for the good feed. Once, though, I heard a television or something instead of the feed. 
And what sounded like someone preparing dinner.

[Hoopieman]

Thee question i have is if the co-pilot is landing, how does he get it into the terminal? I thought you could only steer from the Captions side via the tiller?

[Jazz8751]

From the TSB CADORS

''Supplemental information received from T.S.B. Initial Notification [#A09C0006]: WestJet Airlines Ltd. flight WJA697, a Boeing 737-6CT, registration C-GWSL, was en-route from Montréal to Winnipeg. While in cruise flight, the Captain became ill and the flight was diverted to Thunder Bay, Ontario. The aircraft landed without incident and the Captain was taken to hospital.''

[railker]

Thee question i have is if the co-pilot is landing, how does he get it into the terminal? I thought you could only steer from the Captions side via the tiller?

I do believe you can steer with rudder pedals as well, and differential braking if available on the 737 would help make turns as well. The only difference (again, I think) between the captain's wheel and the rudder pedals is range of movement (rudder pedals for making gradual turns, i.e. off runway onto high-speed taxiway, etc.), and the steering wheel can make those sharp on-a-dime turns

[DaytonaAirport]

This reminds me of a similar incident in Indonesia. It was about a senior Garuda Indonesia pilot suddenly falling ill while flyng a Garuda Indonesia Boeing 737-5U3 from Supadio to CGK. The pilot dies following the return of the aircraft to Supadio. No injuries reported among the passengers and crew. Who knows that this would happen in the Westjet incident. The pilot would have died in hospital.