Description

On 15 August 2016, an Airbus A320 (HA-LPN) being operated by Wizz Air Hungary on a scheduled international passenger flight from Barcelona to Riga was in the cruise over northern Italy when the Captain’s cognitive condition began to deteriorate and he assigned all flight tasks to the First Officer. When his condition deteriorated further, a company First Officer travelling as one of the 182 passengers was invited to occupy the flight deck supernumerary crew to assist and this pilot subsequently swapped seats with the Captain for the remainder of the flight which was completed without further event. 

Investigation

Following notification of the event to the Hungarian Transportation Safety Bureau by the aircraft operator late on the following day, a Serious Incident Investigation was opened. It was noted that relevant data on the CVR had been overwritten. 

The 35 year-old Captain, who had joined Wizz Air as a direct entry Captain and was a Belgian national, had initially acted as PF on the investigated flight. He had a total of 8,060 hours flying experience on all aircraft types. The 33 year-old First Officer, who was a French national holding a CPL (Commercial Pilot Licence), which was a licence that did not permit him to fly in command of an A320, had a total of 3,486 hours flying experience of which almost all were on type.