Russian plane forced to land after pilot suffers heart attack

he aircraft was flying from Moscow to the popular Black Sea resort of Anapa. (iStock)

A Russian plane was forced to make an emergency landing after a pilot became fatally ill in the cockpit while flying at 33,000 feet.

The 49-year-old pilot suffered a suspected heart attack and was pronounced dead after the Russian state airline Aeroflot Airbus 320 landed at Platov International Airport in Rostov-on-Don on Sunday.

The pilot “died during the landing”, a source told news agency TASS.

The aircraft was flying from Moscow to the popular Black Sea resort of Anapa. Medical help was given to the pilot immediately after landing, but he could not be saved.

Russian reports say the captain sought an immediate emergency landing at the nearest airport.

Flight SU1546 flight had left Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport at 8:20 a.m.local time and was scheduled to arrive at 10:40 a.m. It landed at Rostov at 9:57 a.m.

“Unfortunately it was not possible to resuscitate the pilot,” an Aeroflot spokesman told RBC news outlet.

Reports said the “preliminary” cause of death was a heart attack or thrombosis.

The Russian Investigative Committee’s southern investigative department has launched a probe into the incident.