Flyger døde bak stikka - Kan åpne ny debatt om aldersgrense i USA

Pilot's deadly in-flight heart attack threatens to renew age debate United Capt. Henry Skillern, 63, of Humble, Texas, died after heart attack, according to coroner Tragedy threatens to renew debate over mandatory pilot retirement age (CNN) -- The 161 passengers aboard United Flight 1603 must have known something was wrong when a crew member announced on the cabin loudspeaker if anyone aboard was a physician. The pilot, Capt. Henry Skillern, 63, was suffering a heart attack. The in-flight emergency Thursday night that began somewhere in the skies between Houston and Seattle prompted the 737 to divert to Boise, Idaho. Air traffic controllers radioed the plane's first officer who updated them with the captain's condition. "We got a man down, chest compressions going on right now," the first officer said. "I'm not sure too much right now on status." Once the aircraft was on the ground, first responders boarded and rushed Skillern to Boise's Saint Alphonsus hospital, where he later died. The tragedy threatens to reignite the debate over FAA age restrictions for commercial airline pilots. In 2007, the mandatory pilot retirement age was raised from 60 to 65. At that time the FAA said five pilots -- their ages ranging from 48 to 57 -- had died in-flight since 1994, when the FAA began following that statistic.