The Alaska Airlines plane landed safely after the co-pilot took control, and paramedics then tended the pilot, who was taken to hospital. A doctor who was travelling on the plane had also been able to help the pilot in the cabin.
A spokesman for the airline confirmed the incident, telling the news organisation Fox News that the pilot had lost consciousness "somewhere over Oregon".
The Boeing 737-700 had five crew members as well as 116 passengers and was flying from Los Angeles to Seattle. The unfortunated pilot concerned had been flying for the airline for 28 years and was up to date with his six-month medical evaluation, said the spokesman.
USA Today reports that this is the second such incident in a month. On January 22, the co-pilot on an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Las Vegas fainted.
The airline spokesman told the paper: "We do not believe there was a connection between the two incidents."
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