As if we needed more reasons to be nervous about flying...
It seems to have been a rough year for air travel, and we're only in March! We've seen it all - passenger meltdowns, passengers trapped inside airplane bathrooms, terrible crashes, pieces of airplanes falling off midair, maggots, flamingo eggs, and the list goes on.
A new fear has been unlocked as if all that wasn't enough: YOUR PILOT FALLING ASLEEP.
That's what happened on an Indonesian airline in January, where not one but TWO PILOTS fell asleep at 36,000 feet in the air with 153 passengers and four flight attendants on board.
The two pilots were flying a roundtrip (and supposed to be awake) Batik Air Indonesia flight from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, in Jakarta ,to Halu Oleo Airport, in Kendari, on January 25 when they felt they needed to rest their eyes.
According to Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee report, during the first leg of the flight from Jakarta to Kendari, the co-pilot, aged 28, with approximately 1,600 flying hours, informed the captain in command that he didn't rest well before his shift. He was a new father with month-old twins, he and had moved houses two days before the flight. He later told investigators that the day before the flight, he "had to wake up several times" to help care for his children, and that he "felt his sleep quality had degraded."
The captain, aged 32, with around 6,300 flying hours, let his co-pilot rest for approximately thirty minutes during that portion of the journey.
Later, on the flight from Kendari back to Jakarta, the captain in command asked his co-pilot if he could take a turn to rest. The request was granted, and some time into the nap, the pilot woke up and asked his co-pilot if he'd like to rest, but the co-pilot declined.
So, back to sleep, he went.
About 20 minutes later, the co-pilot "inadvertently fell asleep" as they were roughly 36,000 feet in the air, according to the incident report.
During that time, air traffic controllers and other pilots tried to contact the napping pilots with no luck. Twenty-eight minutes after their last recorded transmission, the pilot in command woke up and was immediately "aware that the aircraft was not in the correct flight path."
The PIC [pilot in command] then saw the SIC [second in command] was sleeping and woke him up.
About the same time, the PIC responded to the call from another pilot and Jakarta ACC. The PIC advised the Jakarta ACC that BTK6723 experienced radio communication problem and currently the problem has been resolved. The flight then continued and landed at Jakarta uneventfully.
Luckily, no one was injured, and the plane was not damaged, but Batik Air did suspend the two unnamed pilots.
The report stated that the commanding pilot had a 35-hour rest period before the flight, and the secondary pilot had 53 hours of rest time.
Although those are considered adequate rest periods, the Safety Board recommends further measures to avoid another incident like this. According to AFP, Batik Air said it "operates with adequate rest policy" and is "committed to implement all safety recommendations."
Recommendations are being made for Batik Air to develop their personal checklist further so that pilots can check themselves for illness, fatigue, stress, impairing medications, alcohol, and their emotional state before flying.
The absence of detailed guidance and procedure might have made pilots unable to assess their physical and mental condition properly.
Therefore, KNKT recommends Batik Air Indonesia to develop detailed guidance and procedure for ensuring that the IM SAFE personal checklist can be used to assess pilot physical and mental condition properly.
Apparently, the cockpit also should have been checked every half-hour, but the investigation discovered an "absence of detailed procedures" that "might have made the cockpit check policy unable to be implemented properly."
Next time you're on a flight, maybe you should knock on the cockpit door or maybe just ask your flight attendant to take a peek.
Staying awake mid-flight seems crucial to ensure a safe and smooth journey!
Or did these guys just prove otherwise? 🤔
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
