A literal nightmare flight scenario played out in Indonesia when the two Batik Air pilots aboard simply fell asleep as the airplane veered off the flight path.
Yes. Both pilots.
Before we proceed, it bears mentioning that the flight, that lasted two hours and 35 minutes, successfully landed in Jakarta and everyone arrived safely.
Indonesia’s transport ministry is to launch an investigation into this most disturbing incident, according to civil aviation director-general M. Kristi Endah Murni.
CNN reported:
“According to a preliminary report released Saturday by the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT), both the pilot and co-pilot fell asleep simultaneously for 28 minutes during a flight from Kendari in Southeast Sulawesi province to the capital Jakarta on January 25, causing navigational errors as “the aircraft was not in the correct flight path.”
None on board – including 153 passengers and four flight attendants – were injured during the flight, and there was no damage to the aircraft, the KNKT preliminary report said.”
But what happened? Here’s what we know so far: the second-in-command pilot had notified his co-pilot earlier in the day that he had not had ‘proper rest.’
[How about staying on the ground, then?]
There isn’t any excuse for his behavior, but if there ever was one, he’d have it: the Indonesian pilot had one-month-old twins and woke up several times to help his wife take care of the babies.
“In the flight before the incident, the second-in-command was able to sleep ‘for about 30 minutes’. After the aircraft departed Kendari and reached cruising altitude [in the following flight], the pilot-in-command asked for permission to also rest and the second-in-command took over the aircraft. Around 90 minutes into the flight, the second-in-command then ‘inadvertently fell asleep’, according to the report.
Twelve minutes after the last recorded transmission by the co-pilot, the Jakarta area control center (ACC) tried to reach the aircraft, but there was no reply from the pilots, it said. Around 28 minutes after the last recorded transmission, the pilot-in-command woke up and realized the plane was not in the correct flight path. At that point, he woke up the second-in-command and responded to the ACC, it said.”
Once they realized the magnitude of their mistake, they compounded it with a lie: the preliminary report detailed that the pilot-in-command told the area control center that the flight had experienced a ‘radio communication problem’ that had been resolved.
“’We will conduct an investigation and review of the night flight operation in Indonesia regarding the Fatigue Risk Management for Batik Air and other flight operators,’” [director-general] Murni said in a statement.”
The post NIGHTMARE: Both Pilots in Indonesian Flight Fall Asleep in the Cockpit, Plane Veers Off Route appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.