A plot who had been deprived of sleep after he became the new father of twins and his co-pilot are accused of allowing their airliner with 159 people on board to deviate from course after they both fell asleep in the cockpit midair, officials in Indonesia said.
Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee found that Batik Air flight BTK6723 began to divert from its flight path on Jan. 25 when both the pilot and his first officer, who were not publicly named, dozed off for around 28 minutes, according to a report on the incident.
After reaching cruising altitude during the flight, a two-hour and 35-minute trip from the island of South East Sulawesi to Jakarta, the 32-year-old pilot in command asked his 28-year-old deputy for permission to sleep.
After getting approval from his second-in-command, the captain fell asleep for an hour, waking up briefly to ask the 28-year-old if he wanted to switch places.
After the younger first officer declined the offer, the captain went back to sleep only to wake up 28 minutes later to find that “the aircraft was not on the correct flight path” and his partner was napping, according to the report
Once the captain woke up, he was able to get the plane back on the correct path, landing it at Jakarta. None of the passengers or employees aboard the flight were injured as a result of the incident.
During the time both pilots were asleep, Jakarta’s air control centre noted that it had made several calls to try and contact the pilots, but they were only met with silence.
Officials said that after interrogating the pilots, the first officer claimed he had been busy taking care of his 1-month-old twins in his new home and had been struggling to get enough sleep.
The captain and his co-pilot had been deemed fit to fly before the trip, with both passing health checks and alcohol tests, according to officials.
The pilots have since been “temporarily suspended,” according to a statement from Batik Air. The airline did not immediately respond to the Post’s request for comment.
Indonesia’s Transport Ministry “strongly reprimands” Batik Air over the incident, with the government opening an investigation to find what went wrong.
“We will carry out an investigation and review of the night flight operation in Indonesia related to Fatigue Risk Management for Batik Air and all flight operators,” Kristi said in a statement to Agence France-Presse.
The incident in Indonesia should be a lesson to regulators not to sleep in midair napping. A survey last July from the European Cockpit Association found that out of 6,893 pilots questioned, about 75% admitted to falling asleep at least once while flying a plane.
Source: NYP
巴蒂克航空 (Batik Air) 的一架航班在起飛後偏離航線
飛行員在一次飛行中睡了 28 分鐘
兩小時三十五分鐘的行程。
印尼官員稱,一名在成為雙胞胎父親後被剝奪睡眠的陰謀者和他的副駕駛被指控在駕駛艙半空中睡著後,允許載有 159 名乘客的客機偏離航線。。
據印尼國家運輸安全委員會的一份報告稱,巴蒂克航空 (Batik Air) 航班 BTK6723 於 1 月 25 日開始偏離航線,當時飛行員和副駕駛(未公開姓名)打瞌睡了約 28 分鐘。事件。
從東南蘇拉威西島到雅加達的飛行歷時兩小時零三十五分鐘,在達到巡航高度後,這位 32 歲的機長請求他 28 歲的副機長允許他睡覺。
在得到副指揮官的批准後,船長睡了一個小時,短暫醒來詢問這位 28 歲的船長是否想交換位置。
報道稱,在年輕的副駕駛拒絕後,機長又回去睡覺,但 28 分鐘後醒來,發現“飛機沒有在正確的飛行路線上”,而他的搭檔正在打瞌睡。
機長醒來後,他讓飛機回到正確的航線,降落在雅加達。 事件中沒有乘客或機上員工受傷。
雅加達空中控制中心指出,在兩名飛行員熟睡期間,他們曾多次致電試圖聯繫飛行員,但都沒有得到回應。
官員稱,在審問飛行員後,副駕駛聲稱他一直忙於在新家照顧一個月大的雙胞胎,一直難以獲得足夠的睡眠。
據官員稱,機長和副機長在出發前被認為適合飛行,並通過了健康檢查和酒精測試。
根據巴蒂克航空的一份聲明,這些飛行員已被「暫時停職」。 該航空公司沒有立即回應《華盛頓郵報》的置評請求。
印尼交通部就這一事件「強烈譴責」巴蒂克航空,並啟動調查以找出問題所在。
克里斯蒂在給法新社的聲明中表示:“ 我們將對印尼的夜間飛行運營進行調查和審查,涉及巴蒂克航空和所有航班運營商的疲勞風險管理。”
印尼的事件應該給監管者一個教訓,不要在半空中打瞌睡。 歐洲駕駛艙協會去年 7 月的一項調查發現,在接受調查的 6,893 名飛行員中,約 75% 的人承認在駕駛飛機時至少睡過一次。
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