New Delhi: The spectre of “sleeping pilots” is back to haunt Indian flyers. A Jet Airways aircraft winging its way from Mumbai to Brussels last Friday suddenly dropped 5,000 feet in the Ankara airspace over Turkey. The commander of the Boeing 777 aircraft was taking ‘controlled rest’, which means a nap as per rules. The aviation regulator is now probing if the co-pilot too had dozed off.
The incident took place on Friday and the two have been suspended by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for taking ‘controlled rest’, which means a nap as per rules, and negligence while on duty.
The two were summoned by the DGCA for questioning where the co-pilot claimed that she was busy on her tablet and failed to notice that the aircraft had suddenly lost altitude. A call from an alarmed Ankara ATC is what jolted the pilots into action. The aviation regulator is also investigating if the co-pilot too had dozed off. Jet is also conducting a separate inquiry into the incident.
Following this case, DGCA has decided to audit the airline’s training procedure for pilots. “The pilots should have informed the airline and they in turn should have apprised the accident investigation board about this case. The captain did not file a report. The two pilots kept flying after this case, which took place last Friday, till we grounded them on Tuesday. We got to know about it only from an anonymous complaint,” said an official.
Bureau Report
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