Panic at 30,000ft as British Airways captain and co-pilot both fall ill in the cockpit after smelling ‘foul odour’

A British Airways captain and co-pilot were rushed to hospital after the pair breathed in a ‘foul odour’ and fell ill in the cockpit during a flight to London on  Thursday, October 19.

The Captain and First Officer of a BA flight were forced to wear oxygen masks after reporting the bad odour, while at 30,000ft in the air on Thursday morning.

After getting in contact with emergency services on the ground, the plane filled with people landed at Heathrow airport, following take-off from Newcastle.  

The pair were rushed to hospital after ‘keeling over’ amid fears that they may have been exposed to toxic chemicals.

Ambulances and fire services scrambled to the airline’s Crew Report Centre, where the two pilots were initially assessed after suffering ‘smoke inhalation’ in the dramatic cockpit incident.

They then sent them off to hospital for further tests.

A source reportedly told The Sun: ‘This was a shocking incident. The immediate concern is obviously for the two pilots.

‘But also striking is the worry about what could have happened had these two cockpit crew been intoxicated when they were still at the controls of a crowded jet at 25,000ft. It doesn’t bear thinking about.

‘Investigations have started into this alarming incident.’

A British Airways spokesperson said: ‘The flight landed safely and customers disembarked normally following a minor technical issue with the aircraft.’

A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: ‘We were called at 10.39am today (19 October) to reports of an incident at Terminal 5 Heathrow Airport, Hounslow.

‘We sent an ambulance crew, an incident response officer and members of our hazardous area response team (HART) to the scene.

We treated two patients at the scene for smoke inhalation and took them to a local hospital.’