Overview
- A Delta Boeing 757 operating Flight 437 from Los Angeles to Boston diverted to Detroit after the captain told air traffic control he was sick and asked to taxi to the gate for hospital care on Tuesday, Aug. 25.
- The Federal Aviation Administration said the aircraft landed safely at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport and airport firefighters transported the ill captain to a local hospital.
- There were 147 people on board; Delta assigned a replacement crew in Detroit and the flight resumed to Boston, arriving about 90 minutes late.
- Delta later told reporters the captain experienced "stomach pains," and an unverified social-media claim of appendicitis has not been confirmed by officials.
- Aviation experts noted one pilot often handles communications while the other flies, which explains the captain speaking on the radio, and the widely shared ATC recording drew public attention to routine diversion and medical-response protocols.