Every holiday season, millions of Americans hop on a plane to visit friends and family. Most people are anxious about flight delays and cancellations, but as an emergency room physician, there’s one announcement I dread the most: “Is there a doctor on board?” My reluctance isn’t due to any potential inconvenience or legal liability, but rather the fear of facing a sick passenger without the basic equipment or medications needed to help them. In-flight medical emergencies are rare but happen more often than you might think. In contrast to a prior study that estimated they happen on approximately 1 per 604 flights, recently published analysis of data collected from 84 airlines found that medical emergencies were reported in 1 out of every 212 flights. For context, the the Federal Aviation Administration handles about 44,000 flights daily. That works out to roughly 70 to 200 medical emergencies a day over U.S. skies. Here’s how those in-flight emergencies can play out: Flight attendants, who are trained in CPR and first aid skills, are the first to respond to an unwell passenger