A Delta Airlines jet heading to JFK diverted to Miami (MIA) for an emergency landing yesterday morning after the Captain became ill. (airnation.net) More...
It was an emergency diversion that occurred to late to get another pilot crew there by means of a DL flight or any other scheduled airline flight. So DL chartered a GA flight for the two pilots. As they were only replacing the pilot crew, time was of the essence in getting the replacement pilots there before the flight attendants themselves went over their duty limit, which would have caused the flight to be cancelled in Miami.
About 10 years ago I flew a Virgin 747 FE from EWR to MCO. Virgin chartered a Lear after he deadheaded from London on the company. The FE in MCO got sick so everyone was delayed until the replacement got his rest. Very chipper bloke, but he was puzzled as to why I was on a 5 mile final doing 200 kts. It was 2 am and I just couldn't explain Part 135 and "rest..."
Reading this article I landed in AirNation.net and was surprised to find a sizable amount of incidents on Delta flights. Sick crew or passengers cannot be predicted but some issues about smoke in cockpit, blowing tires, etc. do not sound very comforting nor confidence inspiring.
No more so than any other airline....it's the way the internet works...look up UAL or CAL oe BWA....it's like typing in a google search or youtube...they just bring up the most similar topics to the subject (or airline in this case)
