Pilot loses consciousness while flying plane

A plane carrying 122 people has made an emergency landing in Alaska after a pilot passed out in the cockpit.

The Alaska Airlines plane landed safely after the co-pilot took control, and paramedics then tended the pilot, who was taken to hospital.

A spokesman for the airline confirmed the incident, telling the news organisation Fox News that the pilot had lost consciousness "somewhere over Oregon".

While the plane was still in the air, a doctor on board tended to him in the cabin.

According to reports from the Associated Press, the Boeing 737-700 had five crew members as well as 116 passengers and was flying from Los Angeles to Seattle.

The pilot concerned had been flying for the airline for 28 years and was up to date with his six-month medical evaluation, said the spokesman.

USA Today reports that this is the second such incident in a month. On January 22, the co-pilot on an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Las Vegas fainted.

The airline spokesman told the paper: "We do not believe there was a connection between the two incidents."

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