![]()
A pilot left the cockpit midflight to deliver a passenger's baby thousands of feet in the air.
After 18 years of flying, pilot Jakarin Sararnrakskul was in for a shock when the crew told him a woman was in active labor in one of the plane's bathrooms, according to The New York Post. The VietJet plane was flying from Taipei, Taiwan to Bangkok, Thailand when he was alerted about the situation, handing over control to the copilot and rushing to the laboring woman. Sararnrakskul helped to deliver the baby in the air, without any prior experience. The plane landed safely in Bangkok and paramedics greeted the mother and healthy new baby, nicknamed Sky by the crew.
"He will be able to tell everyone for the rest of his life that he was born in the air," Sararnrakskul said, according to The Post. "I feel so proud that I could help to bring him into the world."
This may be a first for father-of-one Sararnrakskul, but this is not the first sky-high delivery to happen on a commercial flight. A study conducted by the International Air Transport Association found that between 1929 and 2018 there were 74 babies born on 73 commercial flights. Of the babies born on commercial flights, 71 survived delivery, two died shortly after and the status of one was unknown. The study found that physicians, nurses, the flight crew and other medical personnel provided medical assistance in 45 percent of these births.