Plane veered off course as both pilots fall asleep

Tuesday, 11 Mar, 2024 0

A captain and co-pilot both dozed off at the same time, causing their flight to veer off course, an Indonesia National Transportation Safety Committee report says.

It happened during a Batik Air flight in January, travelling from Kendari, Sulawesi to Jakarta.

There were 157 passengers and cabin crew onboard the flight.

The report said the pilots were asleep together for 28 minutes.

The flight landed safely.

The captain took a rest leaving the co-pilot in charge but he later fell asleep.

He ‘inadvertently fell asleep’ with air traffic control unable to get a response from the cockpit.

“Several attempts to contact the plane had been made. None of the calls were responded to by the pilots,” the report stated.

Some time later the captain woke up with his co-pilot still asleep and realized the plane was off course. This was immediately rectified.

He initially told air traffic control there had been a ‘problem’ with communications.

TravelMole Editorial Team

Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.

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