Two Sleeping Pilots -during Flight- To Return To Work

[LaoPo]

Snoozing pilots to return to work

Two commercial airline pilots who fell asleep in the cockpit and overshot their landing by 15 miles have been cleared to return to work.

Earlier this year, the Go! flight from Honolulu to Hilo cruised over its landing target at 21,000 feet.

Alarmed air traffic controllers tried to contact the cockpit a dozen times but got no response for 17 minutes.

The pilots were subsequently fired, but suspensions issued by the US aviation watchdog have now been served.

Officials feared for the safety of the 40 passengers on board when they got no response from the Hawaiian carrier's short-haul Flight 1002 on 13 February.

Some 44 minutes into what should have been a 45-minute flight, contact was finally established and the plane was ordered to return to land.

Sleep disorder

The US National Transportation Safety Board ruled in June that both pilots "unintentionally fell asleep".

Captain Scott Oltman was suspended for 60 days by the the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) for careless and reckless operation of an aircraft and for failing to maintain radio communications.

The FAA suspended First Officer Dillon Shepley for 45 days for careless and reckless operation of a plane.

Both suspensions were completed on 9 September, the FAA said.

After February's incident, Mr Oltman was diagnosed with "severe obstructive sleep apnea" which causes people to stop breathing repeatedly in their sleep, preventing a restful night.

No action was taken against the carrier because it was deemed to have acted within guidelines and had offered the two pilots sufficient rest-time between flights.

Story from BBC NEWS

LaoPo

[enyaw]

That's just bizarre a 45 minue flight and both pilots nod off? Isn't a 45 min flight a case of ascending and then preparing to descend, how can 2 pilots fall asleep in that period of time. F*king ridiculous?

[bkkjames]

That's just bizarre a 45 minue flight and both pilots nod off? Isn't a 45 min flight a case of ascending and then preparing to descend, how can 2 pilots fall asleep in that period of time. Weird?

Guessing they were Thai pilots? kidding.

[Scott]

Well, now we know why they overshot their destination!

[Farma]

They could have used this excuse. 'Aircraft had communications failure'

Plane overshoots Mumbai as both pilots go to sleep

26 Jun 2008

MUMBAI: An Air India Jaipur-Mumbai flight flew well past its destination with both its pilots fatigued and fast asleep in the cockpit. When the pilots were finally woken up by anxious Mumbai air traffic controllers, the plane was about half way to Goa.

This nap in the sky took place about a fortnight ago on the domestic leg of a Dubai-Jaipur-Mumbai flight — IC 612 — which had about 100 passengers on board. "The plane took off from Dubai at 1.35am IST and then from Jaipur at 7am. After operating an overnight flight, fatigue levels peak, and so the pilots dozed off after taking off from Jaipur," said a source.

The flight schedules of pilots prior to this flight is not known.

The aircraft was supposed to take the A 474 South route — a designated route to Mumbai — and since it was on autopilot, it headed in that direction. "It was only after the aircraft reached Mumbai airspace that air traffic controllers realized it was not responding to any instructions and was carrying on on its own course," said the source.

Said an air traffic controller: "The aircraft should have begun its descent about 100 miles from Mumbai, but here it was still at cruising altitude. We checked for hijack and when there was no response we made a SELCAL (selective calling)."

Every aircraft has its own exclusive code. When the ATC uses this high frequency communication system — which it does very rarely and only when other communication draws a blank — a buzzer sounds in the cockpit. Jolted by the sound of the SELCAL buzzer, the pilots woke up and brought the plane back to Mumbai safely.

Kanu Gohain, directorate general of civil aviation, was not available for comment. Contacted for its version on Wednesday evening, Jitendra Bhargava, director, public relations of Air India, said, "The director, operations, is getting information on the matter."

'Aircraft had communications failure'

General manager, Mumbai aerodrome, M G Junghare, denied that the pilots were asleep behind the control column. "The aircraft had a radio communications failure and so could not be contacted. It had gone only 10 or 15 miles off Mumbai and after we ascertained that it was not hijacked we made the SELCAL," he said.

Commanders, however, pooh-poohed this claim and said the lapse was being hushed up. "There is a strict procedure which is followed during a radio communications failure whereby the aircraft should have descended to a holding point. Instead, it flew over Mumbai. Also, every flight has an Expected Time of Arrival (ETA), so why did it not begin its descent even after crossing its ETA?" argued a check pilot.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Plane_o...how/3165569.cms

[zorro1]

Reminds me of an old flying instructor that was CFI on our commercial licence course. He was around 70 white hair big white mustache and classic wwII bomber pilot British accent old boy. Like clock work he would fall asleep on climb out and awake on landing quite regularly

As to the above it costs a fortune to train up pilots in the airlines and they wont let them go easily

[Carib]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/159...crewrest06.html

Article about sleeping/resting during long flights.

[h90]

There was an famous incident in Austria. A big Russian (or Soviet, don't know how long ago) plane flight into Austria...no contact...no nothing. Austrian fighter plane could saw both pilots sleeping. They did not answer any communication unless the Austrian fighter plan came very close and turned on the Afterburner (which seems to be very loud).

They apologized and everything was OK again....

[Farma]

And now this.

Flight delays as traffic controller sleeps

TWO planes were forced to circle over a Greek island awaiting permission to land today after an air traffic controller overslept and was late for work, Greece's civil aviation authority said

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0...5003402,00.html

[LaoPo]

Reuters reports:

Planes circle isle after controller overslept

Mon Sep 29, 2008 3:54pm EDT

ATHENS (Reuters) - Two airplanes due to land on the Greek island of Lesbos had to circle above the Aegean sea for more than half an hour because an air traffic controller overslept, police said Monday.

An Olympic Airlines aircraft, arriving from the Greek capital Athens, and a Slovakian Airlines plane made several failed attempts to contact control tower personnel.

"They were calling the tower to get directions, but no one would answer," a police official, who declined to be named, told Reuters. "The woman later said she overslept."

The airport's secondary control service assisted the pilots to land after they had circled for 40 minutes. Police said the controller, who was not named, would be suspended for a few days.

--Reuters

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