The Indonesian air safety agency has called for improved mechanisms to monitor pilot fatigue after an investigation found that both pilots of a commercial flight recently fell asleep mid-air.
According to a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT), the pilot and co-pilot were asleep simultaneously for around 28 minutes during a Batik Air flight from South East Sulawesi to Jakarta on January 25.
Despite Indonesia’s reliance on air transport to connect its numerous islands, the country has a poor air safety record. The report revealed that one of the pilots hadn’t had sufficient rest the night before the flight.
While the incident caused several navigational errors, none of the 153 passengers or four flight attendants on the Airbus A320 were harmed during the two-hour-and-35-minute journey.
About 30 minutes into the flight, the captain requested to take a short rest, which the co-pilot approved. However, the co-pilot also unintentionally fell asleep, the report noted.
The report mentioned that the co-pilot had one-month-old twins and was helping care for them at home. Shortly after his last transmission, Jakarta’s area control centre tried to reach the aircraft but received no response.
Twenty-eight minutes later, the captain woke up, realized the co-pilot was still asleep, and noticed the plane was off course. He quickly woke the co-pilot, answered Jakarta’s calls, and corrected the flight path.
Add Comment