"We tied the rope (umbilical cord) with some rope from somewhere, we cut it with something - I don't know what it was because you're not allowed knives and things on aeroplanes any more," he said.


A woman has given birth to a baby boy while on board a flight from Munich, Germany, to Atlanta in the Untied States.

When flight stewards on board Delta Flight 131 asked if there was a doctor on the plane, American doctors Robert Vincent and Dieter Gunkle stepped forward.

They were about 10,000 metres above Washington DC when a young woman went into labour a month early.

Dr Vincent says he and Dr Gunkle had to use any tool they could get their hands on.

"We tied the rope (umbilical cord) with some rope from somewhere, we cut it with something - I don't know what it was because you're not allowed knives and things on aeroplanes any more," he said.

At first the child had no heart-beat and was not breathing, but the men were eventually able to resuscitate the baby boy.

After the birth, the pilot made a detour to Charlotte, North Carolina.

Staff at the hospital there say mother and son are in good health.