This is your captain sleeping…

[Naim 6]

This is your captain sleeping…

 

The Go aircraft was at 21,000 feet over Honolulu when air traffic controllers realised it was not coming in to land. The cockpit crew have now had their licences suspended.

 

Published Date: 25 September 2008

By Alastair Dalton

 

PASSENGERS on board Go flight 1002 may have felt a little uneasy had they noticed their plane had flown 15 miles past its destination. That would most likely have turned to blind panic had they known that behind the cockpit door, both their pilots were fast asleep.

 

The mid-morning aviation nightmare happened at 21,000ft over Hawaii, when air traffic controllers found themselves unable to contact the flight crew for more than 17 frantic minutes.

 

They finally roused the dozing pair, after making nearly a dozen calls, as the plane headed over the Pacific Ocean on autopilot, away from its intended destination of Hilo.

 

The Bombardier jet, carrying 40 passengers on what should have been a 45-minute flight from Honolulu, then turned around and landed safely.

 

The United States' Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has suspended the pilots for the "careless and reckless operation of an aircraft".

 

They had already been sacked by the Hawaiian Go airline, but it is not known whether they have moved to another carrier.

 

Captain Scott Oltman, 54, who was also cited for failing to maintain radio communications, had his licence suspended for 60 days.

 

He has been diagnosed with a severe obstructive sleep apnea, which causes people to stop breathing repeatedly, preventing a restful night of sleep.

 

First Officer Dillon Shepley, 24, was suspended for 45 days.

 

The FAA said no action was taken against Go because it did nothing wrong and had provided the pilots with a 15-hour break before their shift, nearly double the minimum required.

 

The US National Transportation Safety Board has determined the two pilots unintentionally fell asleep on the flight on 13 February. However, it remains unclear why they both dozed off. No problems were found when the aircraft's pressurisation system and carbon monoxide levels were examined. In recordings, an air traffic controller is heard repeatedly trying to contact the pilots and talking to the crew of another Go flight in hopes of reaching Flight 1002. "I'm worried he might be in an emergency situation," he is heard saying.

 

The safety board has urged the FAA and airlines to monitor pilot fatigue more closely.

 

It said the pilots had been on duty for four and a half hours that morning, and "were on the third day of a trip schedule that involved repeated early start times and demanding sequences of numerous short flight segments".

 

The British Air Line Pilots Association said it was not aware of any other incident in which both pilots had unintentionally fallen asleep.

 

It said there was a requirement for two pilots on aircraft with more than about six seats.

 

Many airlines' operating procedures include cabin crew regularly visiting the flight deck to bring refreshments and ensure the pilots are OK.

 

Go, an inter-island carrier run by Arizona-based Mesa Air Group, declined to comment on the suspensions.

 

FACT BOX

 

AIRCRAFT passengers may be reassured there are pilots up front, but for much of the time they do not fly the plane.

 

Flight crew habitually switch on the autopilot when reaching 2,000ft, after take-off, and take back manual control only when the aircraft has descended to that level before landing. At major airports, such as Heathrow, many planes land automatically during poor visibility, using an "auto land" system which has been around since the 1960s.

 

However, passenger aircraft do not take off automatically because of the high cost of the equipment required.

 

David Reynolds, flight safety officer for the pilots' union Balpa, said: "It is far better for computers to fly the aircraft while pilots focus on monitoring the controls."

 

 

Page 1 of 1

Last Updated: 24 September 2008 9:40 PM

Source: The Scotsman

Location: Edinburgh

 

http://news.scotsman.com/uk/This-is-your-c...ping.4525795.jp

 

[Mohd Idham 0]

Scary......

[Wilber Tan 0]

scary indeed...both of them fall asleep..wth?

[Teoh Z Yao 0]

Hypoxia?

[Ahmad M 1]

A few things can contribute to crew fatigue. Just looking at the rest period before their duty is insufficient. The whole roster must be taken into consideration and also the time of the flight. Doesn't matter how long you rest beforehand if you are flying through the night you will get sleepy at one point or another. Rostering also must be looked into to see if the crew have been overworked or maybe working to their limits.

[Aiman 0]

Again sleeping..better inform cbin crew if they fell sleepy..

 

atleast they can check it...

[Naim 6]

Page last updated at 10:03 GMT, Thursday, 25 September 2008 11:03 UK

 

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.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7635169.stm

 

[BC Tam 2]

It's like the Hannibal Lechter series, getting scarier and scarier