Date: 201812
Location: ZZZ.ARTCC, US
Aircraft: Commercial Fixed Wing
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Cruise
Airspace: Class A ZZZ
ATC / advisory: Center ZZZ
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: Captain; Pilot Not Flying
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Human factors: Physiological - Other
Anomaly: Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Illness / Injury
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: In-flight
Result: Flight Crew Diverted; General Physical Injury / Incapacitation
Contributing factors: Human Factors
Primary problem: Human Factors

Narrative: The basis for this report is the diversion to ZZZ due to myself; the flights Captain; falling ill and fainting during flight. About 30 minutes into the flight I was having some gastrointestinal issues possibly relating to something I had eaten that day and made a trip to the lav. Shortly after I returned to the cockpit I started feeling increasingly nauseous and reached for the cockpit trash bag. Very soon thereafter I fainted. When I came to the First Officer (FO) and jumpseater were attending to me and the discussion of diverting came up. At the time I felt it wasn't a major medical issue like a heart attack and to sort of stop for a second and assess my situation. FO mentioned diverting right then and I remember asking about our position relative to ZZZ1 as resources there would be best. He said we were too far. We began to try and raise Dispatch with the 'call me' feature on ACARS. (FO mentioned in post event conversation that there was not a reply to that initial message. He did eventually get on with [Commercial] Radio and then our Dispatcher briefly). A short time later I fainted again and when I came to it had been determined that we were going to divert to ZZZ. We were vectored to the approach and the city was in sight at that point. Very shortly I started to feel better I asked the FO and jumpseater to look at me and see if I looked better to them as I was starting to feel like myself again. They agreed and I and began to help and resume Pilot Monitoring duties to set up for the landing in ZZZ. FO mentioned in post event conversation that he gave me tasks to do like changing destination and diverting in ACARS to evaluate my cognitive state and he felt ok with my performance (my take on his comments). We were given direct to the ZZZZZ fix for XXR and were set up for that runway. Next controller then sent us to XXL but we refused as XXR was already set and our plan. Did have an issue getting landing data as an ERROR was returned from ACARS. I knew there was a LANDING DISTANCE NORMAL chart in [our manual] but seeing as we had all pavement available and workload was increasing we determined we would be ok. We determined an overweight landing was best course of action and I asked jumpseater to monitor our vertical speed at touchdown for our write up. Touchdown ended up being approximately 400 FPM as noted by myself and jumpseater and was written up as such. Landing was a bit firm but below the 600 FPM hard landing threshold. However; It was noted to me the next day by a member of the inflight crew that it did make the oxygen masks in the aft lavatory drop and that was not written up as I was unaware at the time. Once at the gate I was evaluated by airport emergency staff and then EMS. They had me off the plane and down to an ambulance quite quickly so I have no real idea as to what transpired from that point on. EMS took me to the ER where tests were inconclusive of cause but ruled out cardiac issues.




Synopsis: Air carrier Captain reported the flight diverted after becoming ill and fainting several times.