Woman Gives Birth on Plane

Filed in archive Aviation News on May 28, 2007

In an unique and amazing feat, on Wednesday, doctors delivered a baby boy in an aisle on a Delta Flight from Germany to Atlanta. Normally, airlines require a medical certificate for pregnant women, but delta airlines does not have such a policy. The baby boy weighted seven pounds and - along with the unidentified mother - is doing fine.

The baby was born in front of the first seats after first class, one of the roomiest aisles in a plane. Using a stethoscope that was part of medical equipment onboard, the doctors realized the baby had a very slow or arrested heartbeat as the woman was in labor.

"Delivering a baby in an aisle of a plane isn't an easy thing to do," one of the doctors, Dr. Robert Vincent, a pediatric cardiologist with Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, said Friday. "I didn't think the child would survive."

Vincent worked with Dr. Dieter K. Gunkel, an adult cardiologist from Savannah, Ga., to deliver the baby. When he was born, he was blue and wasn't breathing or moving. Vincent started chest compressions and Gunkel did mouth-to-mouth breathing until the boy "pinked up," Vincent said.

"We were flying by the seat of our pants," Vincent said, adding that he didn't even realize baby was a boy until his birth was announced to applauding passengers.

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