More controls called for after incident with sleeping pilots

A commercial airliner flew for half an hour in Indonesia with sleeping pilots. The investigation report has now been presented: There will be more controls in the future.

On a Batik Airlines flight in Indonesia, both pilots fell asleep in the cockpit. There were 153 passengers on board. The incident occurred in January, and the investigation report has now been published calling for more controls. The pilots were temporarily suspended from duty.

The captain (32) asked his co-pilot (28) for permission to take a short rest. Instead of paying attention to the flight route, the co-pilot also fell asleep. According to the investigation report, both of them slept in the cockpit at the same time for 28 minutes. During this time the machine deviated from the intended course. The plane was on its way from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi to the capital Jakarta.

Investigation report: Both pilots had enough rest periods

The incident went smoothly. But the Indonesian aviation safety authority has used this as an opportunity to demand stricter cockpit controls. In addition, the staff must get enough sleep. However, the investigation report states that both pilots received the required rest periods.

The investigation report states that the reason for the co-pilot’s fatigue was that he and his wife were at home looking after their one-month-old twins. He also moved during that time. Internal safety controls stipulate that the cockpit is checked every 30 minutes during the flight. However, it is still unclear which of the two pilots was responsible. In addition, both of them had taken off their headphones, which is why they probably would not have heard the contact from the ground.

Batik Air on the EU blacklist until 2016

The EU has air travel safety standards that are among the strictest in the world. Unsafe airlines are on the EU blacklist and are not allowed to take off or land there. Batik Air was upgraded in safety rankings several years ago. That is why the airline Batik Air has no longer been on this black list since 2016.