'It Was Horrifying': Five Passengers Restrained Pilot With Seatbelts on PAL Airlines AC7664 Flight

A captain's apparent midair seizure forced five strangers to pin him down with seatbelts for a grueling 40 minutes, while the first officer flew the De Havilland Q400 to Boston alone. The harrowing incident highlights the high-stakes pressure placed on single pilots when a dual-crew system suddenly loses its captain.

Air Canada Flight AC7664, operated by regional partner PAL Airlines, was carrying 61 passengers from Newark Liberty International Airport to Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 24 June when the captain became incapacitated and was dragged out of the flight deck by a flight attendant, according to passenger accounts and an Air Canada statement.

Rodney McDonald, a passenger seated in the front row, told ABC News that he and four other travellers helped restrain the captain for roughly 40 minutes as a registered nurse on board directed the response. 'It was really horrifying,' McDonald said.

The 40-Minute Restraint

The aircraft 'swerved' before passengers understood what was happening, McDonald said, describing repeated jolts that did not feel like turbulence. A flight attendant then entered the cockpit and pulled the captain into the aisle.

McDonald said the group worked to keep the captain still as he convulsed, using every seatbelt they could find to secure his arms, legs, and chest. The captain was 'out of control physically, not violently', McDonald told ABC News, and was not coherent until just before landing.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises against holding down a person having a seizure, because restraint can cause injury. The agency recommends clearing the area, turning the person gently on their side, and keeping the airway clear.

Why The Captain Was Removed From The Flight Deck

Air Canada said in a statement that the captain experienced a medical issue and was removed from the flight deck 'as per safety protocols'. The first officer took control, declared a diversion, and landed at Boston Logan International Airport without incident. The captain was taken to a Boston hospital.

The aircraft was a De Havilland Dash 8 Q400 turboprop, a workhorse on Canadian regional routes that frequently services transborder flights into the US. PAL Airlines operates the type for Air Canada Express, mirroring the regional-carrier structure used by every major US legacy airline.

The Lone First Officer Question

The incident has reignited a quieter policy fight playing out at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Manufacturers like Airbus, alongside European regulators, have spent years studying 'reduced crew operations' for cargo and short-haul flights. However, after a critical safety study concluded that solo pilots could not match dual-crew safety, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) officially shelved its near-term push, delaying any potential implementation to 2030 at the earliest.

The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the largest pilot union in North America, has fought the push. ALPA cites data from FAA Advisory Circular 25.1523 showing that of 32 pilot incapacitation occurrences in single-pilot commercial operations between 1980 and 1989, all 32 resulted in fatalities. Over the same period, 51 incapacitation events in two-pilot scheduled airline operations all ended in safe recoveries.

US federal regulations still require at least two qualified pilots in the cockpit of large passenger and cargo aircraft. An aerospace industry post on X questioned whether the AC7664 episode reveals 'single-pilot incapacitation procedures and crew resource gaps on regional operations'.

What This Means For US Regional Flyers

Every American who boards a regional flight at Newark, LaGuardia, Reagan National, or Logan flies under the same two-pilot rule that saved AC7664 FAA Two-Pilot Mandate. The captain's collapse worked out because a trained first officer was already in the right seat, a flight attendant could physically remove him, and a registered nurse happened to be in coach.

The FAA has not signalled any move toward single-pilot scheduled passenger service. The aviation industry has, and AC7664 just handed pilot unions their strongest real-world counter-example in years.