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Ita Airways plane: pilot fell asleep?
Photo: REMO CASILLI / REUTERS
A long-haul flight from New York to Rome caused a stir in Italy - and cost the pilot his job.
The captain is accused of falling asleep while flying over France in the early morning of May 1 and not being available - he denies it. The airline Ita Airways - successor to Alitalia - fired the man as a result of the incident.
Ita Airways confirmed to SPIEGEL that air traffic control had no contact with the pilot for a short time.
The airline speaks of a few minutes.
A pilot took a break as prescribed.
It must now be determined why the other pilot could not be reached.
The airline pointed out that the passengers were never in danger.
Airplane could not be reached
Flight control in Marseille was no longer able to radio the Airbus A330 early in the morning.
This can happen, for example, if a plane is hijacked by terrorists.
According to the newspaper La Repubblica, which first reported on the incident over the weekend, the French then sent out two fighter jets.
After a few minutes, however, the pilots on board the Ita machine reported back and flew on to Rome without any problems.
The master stated that a technical defect was the reason for the radio link being interrupted.
According to Ita, this disproved an examination of the machine.
In principle, pilots can take a sleep break on long flights – if it is ensured that the other pilot is awake and available.
The airline separated from the pilot because of his behavior on board and because they saw the relationship of trust irreparably damaged.
There are no known disciplinary proceedings against the second pilot, who according to the report had reportedly reported his sleep break in accordance with the rules.
kha/dpa
