An avoidable diversion underscores the importance of diagnostic capabilities onboard.
Medical incidents in flight are a known operational risk, particularly on long-haul routes and high-profile business aviation journeys. While most inflight events do not result in diversions, the inability to rule out severe conditions in real-time often leaves the pilot and clinical teams with no safe alternative but to divert.
In this case, a Gulfstream G650 operating a long-haul route was forced to divert after a passenger experienced chest pain. The symptoms mimicked a heart attack, but without diagnostic capability onboard, the crew and MedAire’s MedLink team were left with incomplete clinical information.