Learn CPR Before You Fly: Medical Emergencies in the Air

What was reported, and what we do not know

According to a US television station's report on 6 October 2026, a US airline flight from the Caribbean to the northeastern United States was diverted to Bermuda because of a medical emergency. The report does not say what the emergency was, what first aid was given or how the passenger is. Passengers told the station they were glad the flight landed to help. It is one local report, so we use it only as a reminder of something that happens regularly: flights are diverted for medical emergencies.

Regulators have counted these events for a long time. In the data the FAA collected from US airlines for a year before it required defibrillators, 188 events were reported; a doctor was on board for 92 of them and a nurse for 49. The FAA reported that four passengers who were given at least one AED shock in flight survived, and it said the data had many limitations. It expected in-flight medical emergencies to increase, and it issued its AED rule in 2001. These figures are old; we use them only to show that this is nothing new.

Why seconds matter, and what airlines carry

In Canada, Heart & Stroke estimates that about 60,000 cardiac arrests happen outside hospital each year, one every nine minutes, and that about one person in ten survives. It says CPR together with a defibrillator (AED) can double a person's chance of survival, and that every minute without either lowers the chance by about 10%.

In the air there is no ambulance to wait for. In the United States, airline rules require passenger airplanes that need a flight attendant and have a maximum payload capacity of more than 7,500 pounds to carry an AED (14 CFR 121.803, in force since 2004). They also require each flight attendant to receive instruction, with performance drills, in CPR and AED use, repeated at least every 24 months. The rules say this training does not have to reach the level of professional emergency personnel. We checked only the US rules; other countries' rules may differ.

The skill: hands-only CPR in three steps

These are the three steps Heart & Stroke gives for someone who is unconscious and not breathing, or not breathing normally. First, phone your emergency number (9-1-1 in Canada and the United States) and shout for an AED. If you have a phone, put it on speaker so you can follow the call taker's instructions, and ask someone nearby to fetch the nearest AED. On an aircraft, tell the crew at once instead; they will bring the aircraft's emergency medical equipment.

Second, start CPR right away. Push hard and fast in the centre of the chest, at about 100 to 120 beats per minute, the beat of songs such as "Stayin' Alive". Keep going until help arrives, an AED is ready or the person starts to respond. Third, use an AED as soon as one is available: turn it on and follow its voice instructions. It delivers a shock only if one is needed.

For adults, chest compressions alone can save a life, according to Heart & Stroke's 2025 guidelines. Its poster adds that you can give 2 breaths after every 30 compressions if you are willing, especially for children and infants. The guidelines put more weight on rescue breaths for children and infants, and in drowning, choking and opioid emergencies, which is one more reason to take a class. Its message is not to hesitate: it says you cannot hurt someone who needs CPR, you can only help.

Why a class beats a web page

CPR is a physical skill, and reading about it is not the same as practising it. Heart & Stroke's Heartsaver CPR AED is a short course for people with little or no medical training. St. John Ambulance lists an in-class CPR and AED course of about four hours with no prerequisites, covering CPR, AED use, recognising a heart attack and a stroke, and choking.

AeroFox cannot teach CPR. It has no CPR lesson, and a flight simulator cannot show you what the right push feels like. This page is a reminder and is not first-aid training or medical advice. Please take a course.