An Air Canada flight out of Newark, New Jersey, was forced to divert and land at Boston’s Logan Airport after the captain became “incapacitated” and a co-pilot had to take over.
Air Canada Flight 7664 was flying to Halifax, Canada with 61 customers on board.
“During the flight, the captain experienced a medical issue and was removed from the flight deck as per safety protocols,” the airline said in a statement. “The first officer took control of the aircraft and diverted the flight to Boston, where it landed safely. Pilots are trained to fly aircraft and land safely without the assistance of a second pilot.”
According to FlightAware, the plane departed Newark Liberty International Airport at 12:39 p.m. on Wednesday.
Massachusetts State Police said Logan Airport officials received an alert just before 1:40 p.m. that the plane would be diverting to Boston.
“A crew member was reported to having a medical emergency and aircraft was being flown by the co-pilot,” Massachusetts State Police said in a statement, adding that the captain had become “incapacitated.”
The plane landed around 2 p.m.
CBS Boston 
Ambulances drove onto the runway and a stretcher was brought to the cockpit. The pilot could be seen being brought from the airplane to a nearby ambulance within minutes of the flight touching down.
Boston EMS said the pilot was brought to Mass General Hospital.
No additional information on the pilot’s condition has been released.
Once the captain was removed from the plane, the aircraft was towed to the gate and passengers were able to get off.
The flight left Logan Airport around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and landed safely in Halifax.
Aviation expert Patrick Smith said this scenario is exactly why every plane has more than one pilot.
“A lot of people have this idea that a co-pilot is kind of an apprentice or there to lend a helping hand. That’s not really how it works. Both pilots are fully qualified and can operate the airplane. To do so with one of the two pilots incapacitated would have increased the workload for another pilot,” Smith said. “Today in Boston the weather was nice so that would have made things a little easier. A higher workload, a little more demanding, a little more challenging, but nothing either pilot couldn’t have handled.”
