March 17, 2008

How not to run an airplane - Air Shuttle flying from Honolulu to Hilo

Neither the time nor the place to be taking a nap. From the UK Daily Mail:
Dozy pilots sacked after falling asleep and overshooting airport by 15 miles - despite panicked calls from controllers
It's one thing for passengers on a short flight to grab 40 winks.

But it's quite another for both the captain and his co-pilot to take a power nap at 21,000 feet.

Last night, two pilots were accused of falling asleep at the controls of a passenger jet and overshooting the airport by 15 miles.

The aircraft was left on auto-pilot as the crew went off the radar and the jet drifted off course over the Pacific.

The captain and his co-pilot have been grounded and are under investigation for allegedly snoozing through 11 calls from air traffic controllers desperate to reach them.

When the skipper finally picked up a call and was asked by a panicked controller if there was anything wrong, he responded: "Uh, no emergency situation."
Talk about a career-limiting move... Part of me wonders if there could be an exhaust leak somewhere but the chances of this are vanishingly small. Posted by DaveH at March 17, 2008 10:11 AM | TrackBack
Comments
Post a comment









Remember personal info?