Passengers heading from Detroit to China had an unexpected layover in Los Angeles after one of the pilots fell ill.
Delta Air Lines Flight 389 took off from Detroit around 10:30 a.m. local time on Saturday and was scheduled to land in Shanghai within 16 hours.
However, flight-tracking data shows that nearly five hours into the journey, the Airbus A350 changed course just off the Alaskan coast near Juneau.
It rerouted to Los Angeles, around 2,000 miles off course as the crow flies, touching down three and a half hours later.
A Delta Air Lines spokesperson told Business Insider the flight diverted “due to a sick crew member.”
Air traffic control audio published by LiveATC.net appears to show that one of the pilots was unwell.
“The flight landed without incident and taxied to the gate,” the spokesperson added. “We apologize to our customers for the delay in their travel.”
While Los Angeles wasn’t the nearest airport, it is one of Delta’s hub airports and a key destination for the A350, making it simpler to find a replacement crew member.
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After three and a half hours on the ground, the A350 took off again from LAX, per data from Flightradar24.
With a nearly 13-hour flight to Shanghai, passengers landed there around 11 p.m. local time.
Flight 389 was initially scheduled to land just before 2 p.m., meaning a delay of roughly nine hours.
The Federal Aviation Administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside US working hours.
While the journey may have been disruptive for passengers, Saturday’s incident also highlights the importance of having two pilots on the flight deck.
Last July, an easyJet flight was met by paramedics in Lisbon after one of the pilots was said to have fainted.
And in 2023, a Southwest Airlines captain who fell ill mid-flight was replaced by another airline pilot who happened to be on board.
Some manufacturers have explored the potential of single-pilot operations, but many pilots oppose this. In 2023, several airline pilot unions around the world joined to launch the Safety Starts with Two coalition.
