The report didn’t determine the pilots, solely describing the pilot in command as a 32-year-old Indonesian and the second in command as a 28-year-old Indonesian. Each had been deemed match to fly, having handed well being checks and returned damaging checks for alcohol, the report mentioned.
When the flight reached a cruising altitude of 36,000 toes, about half-hour after departure, the pilot in command requested the deputy for permission to relaxation, which was granted. The pilot in command fell asleep and woke just below an hour later.
The pilot in command then requested his cockpit mate whether or not he needed to sleep, however the second in command declined, in response to the report, so the primary pilot continued to sleep whereas the deputy remained answerable for the plane.
After making contact with Jakarta’s space management middle, the second pilot “inadvertently fell asleep,” the report mentioned, noting that when the management middle later tried to contact the pilots, it didn’t obtain a response.
“A number of makes an attempt to contact BTK6723 had been made by the Jakarta ACC together with asking different pilots to name the BTK6723,” the report mentioned. “Not one of the calls have been responded to by the BTK6723 pilots.”
Twenty-eight minutes after the final recorded transmission from the second pilot, the primary pilot awakened “and was conscious that the plane was not on the right flight path,” the report mentioned. The pilot put the flight again on observe, and the aircraft went on to land at Jakarta, the report mentioned.
Passengers and workers aboard the flight have been unhurt, and there was no harm to the aircraft, the report mentioned.
In line with the report, the second pilot had been caring for his 1-month-old twins at dwelling, was combating sleep and had moved residences the day earlier than the flight.
The Transportation Ministry “strongly reprimands” Batik Air over the incident, mentioned Indonesia’s civil aviation director, Maria Kristi Endah Murni, in response to Agence France-Presse.
“We are going to perform an investigation and assessment of the night time flight operation in Indonesia associated with Fatigue Danger Administration for Batik Air and all flight operators,” she mentioned in a press release.
AFP reported, citing a Batik Air assertion, that the 2 pilots had been “briefly suspended.” Batik Air didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Sunday.
World wide, the airline trade has lengthy grappled with the problem of fatigue amongst employees members, significantly pilots and cabin crew members.
A survey carried out in July amongst 6,893 pilots in Europe by an aviation security consultancy for the European Cockpit Affiliation discovered that 3 out of 4 pilots fell asleep whereas flying a aircraft within the month earlier than the survey.
In 2022, the managing director of Wizz Air confronted backlash from unions and pilot representatives after he urged fatigued staffers to go the “further mile” amid shortages, Sky Information reported.
In August, The Washington Put up reported that U.S. federal authorities had investigated practically 5,000 pilots suspected of falsifying their medical information to hide that they have been receiving advantages for psychological well being problems and different severe situations that would classify them as unfit to fly.