Indonesia’s aviation safety agency called for better pilot fatigue monitoring mechanisms after an investigation revealed that two pilots on a commercial flight recently fell asleep mid-flight.
On January 25, a pilot and co-pilot fell asleep simultaneously for about 28 minutes during a Batik Air flight from Sulawesi, in the north of the country, to the capital Jakarta, according to a preliminary report by the National Air Safety Committee. Transport (KNKT).
The report was posted on the agency’s website in late February.
Indonesia is a vast archipelago with a poor air safety record, despite relying heavily on this transport to connect its thousands of islands.
According to the report, one of the pilots had not rested properly the night before the flight.
The incident caused a series of navigation errors, but all 153 passengers and four flight attendants on the Airbus A320 were unharmed during the two-hour, 35-minute journey.
Half an hour after takeoff, the captain asked permission to rest from the copilot, who took over the controls of the device but also ended up falling asleep, according to the report.
Twenty-eight minutes after the last recorded transmission, the pilot woke up, realized that his co-pilot was asleep and that the plane was not following the correct flight path, and corrected it after waking his co-pilot and responding to calls. from Jakarta.
“The PIC [piloto al mando] He then saw that the SIC [segundo al mando] he was sleeping and it woke him up,” the report says. “Almost at the same time, the PIC responded to the call from another pilot and the Jakarta ACC. The PIC informed the Jakarta ACC that BTK6723 experienced a radio communication problem and the problem has currently been resolved. “The flight then continued and landed in Jakarta without incident.”
KNKT urged Batik Air to create detailed procedures to ensure that pilots and crew are properly rested before their flights.
“The absence of detailed guidance and procedure could have resulted in the pilots being unable to adequately assess their physical and mental condition,” the report on the incident says. “Therefore, KNKT recommends Batik Air Indonesia to develop a detailed guide and procedure to ensure that the IM SAFE personal checklist can be used to properly assess the physical and mental condition of the pilot.”
For its part, the Indonesian Ministry of Transportation announced on Saturday the opening of an investigation into the airline Batik Air.
The Ministry of Transport “strongly reprimands” Batik Air for the incident, said air transport director general Kristi Endah Murni, calling on airlines to pay more attention to the rest of their crews.
“We will conduct 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.
On Saturday, Batik Air said in a statement that it “operates with appropriate rest regulations” and that it is “committed to implementing all safety recommendations.”
The pilots involved in the incident were temporarily suspended, he added.
Investigators did not identify the pilots, but indicated that they were both Indonesians, ages 32 and 28.
#pilots #Indonesian #airline #fell #asleep #midflight #people #board #Diario #Página
