A plane was flying with 159 onboard. Then both pilots fell asleep.

[brooklynite]

Source: Washington Post

Two pilots of an aircraft carrying 157 other people fell asleep midflight, causing the plane to veer off its designated path, according to a preliminary report by Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee.

The pilots were operating a Batik Air flight when they both fell asleep at the same time for around 28 minutes, the report said. The plane, which was carrying 153 passengers and four crew members, had left the island of South East Sulawesi and was making its way to Jakarta on Jan. 25, a two-hour and 35-minute flight.

The report did not identify the pilots, only describing the pilot in command as a 32-year-old Indonesian and the second in command as a 28-year-old Indonesian. Both had been deemed fit to fly, having passed health checks and returned negative tests for alcohol, the report said.

When the flight reached a cruising altitude of 36,000 feet, about 30 minutes after departure, the pilot in command asked the deputy for permission to rest, which was granted. The pilot in command fell asleep and woke just under an hour later.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2024/03/10/batik-air-pilots-fall-asleep-indonesia/

[Orrex]

1. I guess I can see that. I like to sleep on flights too.

Wait. What?

[SoFlaBro]

30. I'm surprised they didn't commandeer a 1st class seat and stretch out to get that good fucking sleep.

[Orrex]

31. Probably couldn't afford the ticket upgrade.

[SoFlaBro]

34. Guess it is cheaper to catch 40 fucking winks wherever you can.

[pdxflyboy]

2. Both will be unemployed, shortly...

If not already.

[Ocelot II]

3. This happens more than you'd think.

Sitting there with nothing going on, autopilot flying the airplane, if it's night over water there's nothing to look at, not much activity on the radio, add the droning of the engines - good luck staying awake. Add pilots' weird schedules and commutes and time zone changes, they are almost always fatigued. The FAA has crew duty rules to try to alleviate the fatigue problem, but what are the rules elsewhere?

[Bayard]

4. I thought they wore those headphones to listen to loud music.....

But seriously, this kind of sounds like a low oxygen problem?

[Ocelot II]

5. O2 isn't the problem; there are alarms if there are pressurization issues.

Airplanes are pressurized to the equivalent of 10,000 feet, which is fine if you're not doing strenuous exercise. The fatigue problem comes from a combination of erratic scheduling, time zone changes and the ambience of the flight deck, which is pretty boring most of the time.

[Bayard]

10. Thanks for the info

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

27. The in plane pressure is maximum 8,000 feet,

and is more likely around 5,000 feet. Lots of people don't handle pressure above 5,000 feet.

I happen to live at 7,000 feet (Santa Fe) and I just love it, but that's me.

[Elessar Zappa]

36. Most people should be able to handle elevations above 5,000 feet unless they have severe lung disease.

I have moderate cystic fibrosis and I can handle up to about 9k.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

17. Bah! All they have to do is open a window and get a little fresh air.

[Warpy]

6. Maybe planes need a system like some locomotives have

that chime at variable intervals and must be shut off within 30 seconds or an alarm that would wake the dead is sounded. I think the system first started on the trans Australian railroad, too many engineers were nodding off as they crossed the Nullarbor Plain, nothing to see tut boring land with no trees and few other signs of life.

In this case, it's likely the pilots had been spending too many hours flying, Indonesia being the place airline pilots go to build their hours quickly for full certification. I suspected that's where it happened before I read the article.

Chances are they were exhausted and trying to use caffeine to stay awake. Even Starbuck's semi burnt jet fuel lasts only so long.

[Journeyman]

8. That's a great system. Be nice to something like that in cars and buses, too . . .

[WhiskeyGrinder]

14. It's a terrible system because it's distracting at best and becomes part of the background noise at worst, undermining

its purpose. It's similar to the beeping of medical machines -- providers start ignoring them because they're trying to get something else done.

And the alerter on a locomotive doesn't set off an alarm if you ignore it -- it shoots the brakes, which causes a whole nother set of problems.

[appleannie1]

11. I can understand why pilots fall asleep.

The last time I flew, over Christmas, the plane came from New England to Charlotte where I boarded at 1pm, was on the ground less than a half hour, flew to New Orleans, people got off and more got on. There a delay and were kept at the gate and then in holding on the runway for awhile, then flew to Pittsburgh landing at 5pm, where I got off and then returned to New England. That is a lot of flying before the pilots got a real break. On an aside, are you sure Starbucks is only Semi burnt jet fuel? I have always thought it was fully burnt. One time drinking it was enough for me.

[Warpy]

12. The delay in NOLA was probably because the relief pilot was late

US pilots aren't worked the way they are in Indonesia. Somnolence is still a big problem, especially on long flights.

As for Starbuck's, I can't answer to how much French roast coffee they use to achieve their incinerated coffee flavor, all coffee tastes like battery acid to me. Co workers on the night shift swore they added jet fuel to it. I always wondered if the burnt flavor was used to cover up the bitter taste of extra powdered caffeine in the mix. I'll never know. I hate coffee.

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

25. I thought it was burnt tree bark brewed with boiled horse urine myself.

I've gotten their swill less than 5 times in my life...and it was all meeting first dates. I hope they didn't think I liked it.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

16. It's not a chime, it's a terrible noise, and if you don't shut it off, it shoots the brakes.

[Warpy]

19. Hitting the brakes isn't a very good idea for a plane cruising at altitude

The alarm is cheap. Retrofitting aircraft to bring a plane in automatically onto the nearest runway would be pretty expensive. Plus, we're likely about as far away from such a system as we are from self driving cars that aren'tl gitchy enough to wreck out.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

28. The tech is out there on private aircraft to auto-land. This is passenger activated.

There are also systems in use that descend aircraft to breathable air altitudes in the event of non-responsive pilots.

Commercial Planes have been landing themselves for decades. The only difference now is who commands or when the system is commanded. It’s way less complicated than programming a car to avoid winding roads, traffic cones, and baby carriages.

?si=JRgX6VFNkaqb3SKa

[Warpy]

33. The last baby carriage I saw was the size of a VW Microbus

but point taken.

Odd how a system available on jets used to ferry plutocrats around from private airport to private airport have such a system but jets used to fly people cattle class don/'t. Makes you think.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

37. All the tech is there on the big airliners. They just don't feel the need to tie it together with one button ...

… because there are two pilots.

I betcha once they get rid of the second pilot on the airliners, flight attendants will be trained to press the “safe home” button. And/Or it will be activated from the ground.

[Sneederbunk]

7. Did they have pillows?

[surfered]

9. Credit to Dave Barry...

...the oxygen masks deploy to keep the pilots from hearing the passengers screaming....

[FakeNoose]

13. Do I understand correctly that American commercial flights are on auto-pilot for most of the trip?

Of course the entire flying crew must be alert during take-off and landing. But once they're at cruising altitude, doesn't auto-pilot take over? If someone fell asleep at the wheel, it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, they just have to wake up before it's time to descend.

[LisaL]

15. Yea, sure.

Unless there is any sort of emergency. So obviously they shouldn't all be sleeping.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

29. Auto land tech has been around for decades on commercial.

Now we are seeing it on private aircraft. Including non-pilot passenger activated “safe return” systems that land and stop the plane in the event of pilot incapacitation.

Some systems will prompt a pilot to respond and descend a non responsive pilot to breathable air to try and avoid a Payne Stewart type situation.

This higher level of sophistication has become more adaptable to private aircraft as more private aircraft are being equipped with automatic throttles and brakes that have been on big airliners for decades.

?si=JRgX6VFNkaqb3SKa

Commercial system called auto land cat3 systems are currently pilot set up while in flight but there is no reason they couldn’t be remote activated or auto activated. These systems actually perform the touchdown, rollout, and braking on the runway in zero visibility.

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Here is one of the least sophisticated systems already in use in private aircraft. This system auto descends to breathable air.

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[maxsolomon]

18. OMG another Boeing fuckup

I'm never getting on any of their planes again!

[EX500rider]

22. Yeah I was thinking the same thing, since they didn't type the plane I assume Air Bus

[Wonder Why]

20. Reminds me of the joke about the pilot who died in his sleep.

Unlike his passengers who died screaming.

Sorry. This was a serious incident but ...

[twodogsbarking]

21. This came to mind.

[link:

|

[SouthernDem4ever]

23. Someone forgot to blow up the autopilot.

[Aussie105]

24. Coffee is the answer.

And compulsory aerobics.

Pilots must change into their gym gear and run from the cockpit to the back of the plane 10 times every 2 hours.

Non compliance, and a stewardess brings out a cattle prod.

I'm guessing the sitting still with nothing to do does it.

[Kaleva]

38. Cocaine gives a bigger kick

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

26. The Dilbert emergency backup system glitched. Now they must be punished

Pilots know of Dilbert. They strive mightily to not be Dilbert. I'm not meaning the stupid comic strip. I mean the real Dilbert, as seen here:

[link:

|

They can guide the auto pilot from boarding to disembarking without much of a problem. The pilots are there for when there IS a problem. Just don't be a Dilbert.

[Bucky]

32. I thought autopilot made little beeping noises when they veer off course

Maybe having just two pilots per flight ain't enough for some longer stretches

[pfitz59]

35. Commercial flying can be boring.

'Canned routes'. Autopilot from takeoff to approach, and even landing. Constant monitoring by ground operations. Guaranteed complaint if a single passenger 'feels uncomfortable'. Many professional pilots fly in the military reserves or own their own planes just to regain the joy of free flight.