Plane Diverted To LAX After Woman Gives Birth In Flight
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A woman and her newborn baby were recovering at a Southland hospital Tuesday after she gave birth on board a Southwest Airlines flight.
Flight 623, bound for Phoenix, had just taken off from San Francisco when an unidentified woman went into labor.
The plane was diverted to Los Angeles International Airport at 7:30 a.m., but not before the child was born in flight with the help of doctor and nurse who happened to be on board.
"Everything was going great and about 50 minutes prior to touchdown we got a call from the flight attendants in the back," recalled Captain John Gordy, who was piloting the flight.
The plane was met by paramedics who "boarded the aircraft prior to any passengers departing and rendered immediate medical aid to the mother and newborn," the LAFD said.
The new mom and her baby were taken to a local hospital in good condition.
The remaining 111 passengers were transferred to another Southwest flight which departed for Phoenix at 9:47 a.m.
After deplaning, passengers said the mother remained in her window seat in the back during the whole process.
"We had no clue what was going on and in the back apparently this woman was giving birth," Aarti Shahani said.
"She didn't make any noise or anything," another woman added.
"It was amazing," said Southwest flight attendant Danielle Fite. "The passengers were awesome, everybody was clapping."
It was not immediately clear how far along the mother was into her pregnancy. Southwest recommends against air travel after 38 weeks.
