Sudden incapacitation encountered in flight by professional pilots in French civil aviation, 1948-1972.

This report concerns 17 incidents of sudden incapacitation of professional airline pilots in flight in the period 1948-1972. The high incidence of cardio-vascular accidents is noteworthy: 13 cases of which 11 were due to coronary infarction. There were two cases of unperdictable epileptic fits.