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

[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.