Off-duty pilot assists with emergency landing. Image: Farhat Jah

A Lufthansa flight from Newark to Frankfurt was diverted after an off-duty pilot was called upon to assist with the landing procedure when the aircraft’s co-pilot suffered a debilitating migraine.

The off-duty pilot was a fully-licensed North American Airlines Beoeing 767 captain, according to news.com.au.

The Lufthansa Boeing 747 was grounded in Dublin and delayed a further six hours.

Upon landing the injured pilot was taken to hospital and the Irish Aviation Authority and the Air Accident Investigation Unit were notified of the incident.

“In such circumstances it's absolutely normal procedure for the pilot, the flight captain, to continue to operate the aircraft,” a Lufthansa spokesperson said.

“The procedures are in place for such an eventuality. But the effort of the off-duty pilot was certainly appreciated.”

Lufthansa assured the public that the flight would have been operated safely had the 767 pilot not been there.