As of: March 12, 2024, 3:00 p.m
By: Franziska Kaindl
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Both pilots fell asleep during a flight in Indonesia.
The situation ended lightly, but stricter controls are now being called for.
The incident, which is currently being reported in many media outlets, took place at the end of January.
Both pilots briefly fell asleep on a scheduled flight operated by the Indonesian airline Batik Air.
The plane was traveling from Kendari on the island of Sulawesi to the capital Jakarta with 158 passengers.
According to the authorities, there was no communication with the cockpit for 28 minutes and the aircraft went off course at the same time, according to a report by the German Press Agency (dpa).
The pilot and co-pilot fall asleep during the flight
Apparently the 32-year-old captain asked his co-pilot to rest after takeoff.
However, the 28-year-old co-pilot also fell asleep - he had only become the father of twins a month earlier, as the Transport Safety Authority (KNKT) is said to have reported.
The pilot woke up again and noticed that his first officer had dozed off.
He then made contact with the ground again and corrected the flight route.
As a “preventive measure,” both pilots were suspended, Batik Air said.
Many pilots suffer from fatigue.
(Symbolic image) © Frank Hoermann/Sven Simon/Imago
This incident is by no means an isolated incident.
In August 2022, both pilots of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing fell asleep during the flight and flew over the destination airport until the autopilot triggered a warning signal.
In May of the same year, the pilot of an Airbus belonging to the Italian airline ITA Airways did not respond to air traffic control's radio contact attempts for more than ten minutes - he was also accused of falling asleep while the other pilot took a break as required.
However, he denied that.
Many pilots are overtired and exhausted
A report by the European Pilots Association ECA from August 2023 shows how high the level of fatigue is among pilots. In the survey, three out of four pilots stated that they had experienced at least one microsleep during flight operations in the four previous weeks.
A quarter even stated that they had had five or more microsleep situations - even before the peak summer season.
Almost 7,000 pilots from 31 countries across Europe took part in the survey.
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“The report has once again made it clear to us that the stress on pilots during peak times often exceeds what is acceptable for safety,” said VC President Stefan Herth.
“There should be no microsleep or total exhaustion in the cockpit.
Legal limits must not be targets for airline operations’ planning.
Politicians and authorities must ensure this with appropriate regulations.”
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Pilots’ rest periods
Typically, pilots are not supposed to be on duty for more than 13 hours a day.
When flying from home base, the minimum rest period between two shifts must be at least as long as the previous shift, but at least 12 hours.
Anyone who starts their flight duty outside of their home base should rest for at least ten hours.
But there is also a so-called “controlled rest”, in which the pilot or co-pilot in the cockpit is allowed to take a nap during a flight phase with little workload, as the spokesman for the
Cockpit Association
, Matthias Baier, told the online portal
Welt
some time ago announced.
The airlines would regulate this internally, but generally pilots would be given between 20 and 45 minutes of rest.
This approach is also supported by the aviation safety authority EASA: “The controlled rest period is a countermeasure to deal with unexpected fatigue.”
However, the fact that both pilots are sleeping, as in Batik Air, is not one of them.
According to dpa, the transport safety authority KNKT spoke of a “serious incident” and now wants to demand stricter controls on all flights in the country.
Airlines should therefore carry out regular cockpit checks and ensure that their staff get enough sleep.