Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
During the flight of an Airbus, both pilots fell asleep while it was at an altitude of 11 kilometers. After 28 minutes of dozing, the plane deviated from its course — yet earlier that morning both pilots had been declared fit to fly.
The flight operated from Kendari to Jakarta, and at the time there were 153 passengers and 6 crew members on board. When both pilots fell asleep simultaneously, the aircraft was flying at approximately 11 kilometers, reports ecoportal.net.
How did both pilots fall asleep during the flight?
During the flight the captain asked for a chance to rest, and therefore handed control to the other pilot. That pilot had had only about 53 hours of rest before the flight — and despite that also nodded off. This happened because he had spent most of his time caring for his newborn twins and moving to a new home, and so was exhausted.
The autopilot maintained the previous heading, but the plane drifted from where it should have been while controllers tried for nearly half an hour to contact the aircraft. Eventually the second pilot woke up, responded, and the plane returned to the required course. No one was injured during the flight.
Before departure pilots must pass a physical fitness check: it measures heart rate, vision, presence of illnesses, and blood pressure — and by all measures both pilots were in excellent shape. However, there is currently no test that could quickly detect the effects of a sleepless night.
Fuel
Average prices at the Amic Energy gas station network as of
This incident prompted the company to implement effective fatigue management methods, proper pre-flight rest, and stricter rules for early morning and nighttime hours when the body most requires sleep.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Обидва пілоти заснули, поки літак летів на висоті 11 кілометрів: як таке могло статися". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Channel 24.