American Airlines pilot dies mid-flight

An American Airlines pilot has died mid-flight despite desperate attempts by an air stewardess to revive him.

The pilot of flight 550, was flying from Phoenix to Boston on Monday morning when he became ‘incapacitated’.

According to reports an air stewardess who was a former nurse tried to revive him, but he passed away before the plane landed.

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The red eye flight, had taken off at 12:08am MST and had to be re-routed to Syracuse where it landed around 7:10am EST.

In a recording from Air Traffic Control, the co-pilot can be heard calling in the emergency, saying: “Medical Emergency, pilot is incapacitated. Request handling for runway 108.”

Emergency services met the Airbus A320 aircraft on the ground at Syracuse airport, and after several hours the flight continued its journey on to Boston’s Logan International Airport.

There were 147 passengers on board with five crew members, including the pilot.

Twitter users onboard took to the social media site to profess their sadness over the incident.

“The pilot died on our redeye back to Boston (leading to 4h in Syracuse). life is short. do what you love before it’s too late,” wrote one passenger.

An airline spokesperson told ABC News that the airline is "incredibly saddened" and is focusing on taking care of the family members and crew involved.

The name of the pilot or the cause of death has not been released.