A320 pilot makes emergency landing while in grips of fatal heart attack in Russia

The 49-year-old was flying the Russian state airline Aeroflot Airbus 320 on a domestic flight from Moscow at 9144 metres when he became ill. Photo / Wikimedia Commons

A Russian pilot was forced to make an emergency landing when he suffered a heart attack in the cockpit before dying.

The 49-year-old was flying the Russian state airline Aeroflot Airbus 320 on a domestic flight from Moscow at 9144m when he became ill.

The pilot managed to make an emergency landing at Platov International Airport in Rostov-on-Don on Sunday (local time) before he received medical help on arrival, The Mirror reports.

However, he was pronounced dead upon landing.

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

"He died in the ambulance. We express our sincere condolences to his family and friends."

A female passenger told the Mirror: "A female flight attendant ran through the plane asking if there was a doctor because one of the crew members was feeling unwell.

"Several minutes later we were told that the aircraft was performing an emergency landing."

A source told Russian News agency TASS that the pilot "died during the landing".

Flight SU1546 was flying from Moscow at 8.20am (local time) to the resort town of Anapa on the Black Sea with the scheduled time of 10.40am, but instead landed at Rostov at 9.57am.

It has been reported that the passengers were able to continue to Anapa with a replacement co-pilot.

The Russian Investigative Committee's southern investigative department has launched a probe into the pilot's death.