Harriet Baskas Travel writer

Late last month, as a red-eye Delta flight from Los Angeles to Atlanta was preparing to land, crew members found an unresponsive passenger in the jet's lavatory. Medical professionals were on the flight but, when the plane landed, authorities confirmed that 61-year-old Michaele O'Neil Carnahan had passed away.

Having a passenger die on an airplane is a very sad and, airline officials insist, very rare occurrence. Yet, given how many people are up in airplanes at any one time, it’s bound to happen.

But why let it happen to you, someone you love — even an annoying seatmate — if it doesn’t have to?  Experts say there are steps you can take to make sure you “arrive alive.” Some of their tips are common sense. Others may surprise you.

And one or two may just save a life.

Dying to fly?
First some statistics: MedAire, which provides on-the-ground emergency medical advice to flight crews, documented 89 deaths in 2006 and 77 deaths in 2007. The company deals with about 30 percent of the world’s airlines, so the actual number of in-flight deaths is likely higher. But since no agency keeps system-wide figures, there’s no way to know for sure.

Still, the overall chance of actually dying in the air is quite low. According to the folks at MedAire, “for every 5.7 million passengers in the air every year, one in-flight death could occur.”

Why take chances?
Airlines try not to. “Every plane large enough to have a flight attendant must carry at least one automated external defibrillator (AED) and at least one FAA-approved emergency kit,” said Katherine Andrus of Air Transport Association (ATA), an airline trade association. “And every flight attendant is trained to use the AED and to perform CPR.”

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The airlines also have FAA-required procedures in place to solicit help from any passengers who may have medical training, Andrus added. Plus, there's a pretty good chance that there will be a doctor, nurse, firefighter or someone with useful medical skills on your flight that can — and will — try to help, said Dr. Russell McMullen, director of the Travel Medicine Center at Seattle’s University of Washington Medical Center.

He should know. He's done it. Twice.

Additionally, most airlines contract with on-the-ground emergency medical consultants who can be contacted from the air. “In addition to MedAire,” said ATA’s Andrus, “the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the Mayo Clinic and several other companies provide that service and some airlines have their own in-house medical assistance.”

The consultants on the ground can help assess a situation and have the proper medical teams ready to meet a plane. They can also help decide if the flight should be diverted.

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