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A321 flight crew member reported difficulty reaching ground support personnel while dealing with an ill passenger.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1513718 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201801 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1801-2400 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.ARTCC |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Light | Night |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | A321 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Cruise |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Pilot Not Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Illness |
Narrative:
[A passenger] was reported as being ill and unresponsive. Found 2 nurses and one doctor on board. Passenger was a senior diabetic with pacemaker on 14 medications. Hadn't had insulin in 4 days. No meds for one week. Unable to reach anyone on [ground based medical service] for 15 minutes or anyone on airinc frequencies. Unable to get response from dispatch via ACARS for 5 minutes. This is the second time on this route with a medical and unable to contact anyone! There were no diabetic test strips in emergency medical kit. Luckily another passenger had extra strips. Blood sugar was 273. Passenger was put on o2 and became responsive given oj. Emt met us at the gate. Was able to speak with [ground based medical service] but they were unreadable. Followed advice of doctor on board but I backed it up with dispatch via ACARS later in the flight. Unable to contact [ground based medical service] [twice] in 7 days via ACARS or airinc frequencies.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A321 flight crew member reported difficulty reaching ground support personnel while dealing with an ill passenger.
Narrative: [A passenger] was reported as being ill and unresponsive. Found 2 nurses and one doctor on board. Passenger was a senior diabetic with pacemaker on 14 medications. Hadn't had insulin in 4 days. No meds for one week. UNABLE to reach anyone on [ground based medical service] for 15 MINUTES or anyone on AIRINC frequencies. UNABLE to get response from Dispatch via ACARS for 5 minutes. This is the second time on this route with a medical and unable to contact anyone! There were NO diabetic test strips in Emergency Medical Kit. Luckily another passenger had extra strips. Blood sugar was 273. Passenger was put on o2 and became responsive given OJ. EMT met us at the gate. Was able to speak with [ground based medical service] but they were unreadable. Followed advice of doctor on board but I backed it up with Dispatch via ACARS later in the flight. Unable to contact [ground based medical service] [twice] in 7 days via ACARS or AIRINC frequencies.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.