A Batik Air airline plane prepares to land at Blang Bintang airport on August 18, 2022 in Indonesia (AFP/Archives/ADEK BERRY)
The Indonesian Ministry of Transport announced on Saturday the opening of an investigation into the local airline Batik Air, whose two pilots recently fell asleep during a flight without causing any incident.
“We will conduct an investigation and review of night flight operations in Indonesia related to fatigue risk management for Batik Air and all airline operators,” Kristi Endah Murni, director general of air transport at the Indonesian Airlines, said in a statement. Ministry of transportation.
While two Batik Air pilots fell asleep during a domestic flight at the end of January which did not cause any incident, the Indonesian aviation safety agency on Friday called on airlines to strengthen controls within cockpits and to ensure that flight crew have sufficient rest before each flight.
The ministry’s director general “strongly reprimanded” Batik Air following the incident and called on airlines to be attentive to the quality and duration of crew rest time, according to the statement.
Batik Air said in a statement Saturday that it was following “an adequate rest policy” and was “committed to implementing all safety recommendations.”
The two pilots, aged 32 and 28 respectively and both Indonesian, were temporarily suspended, the company added.
On January 25, a pilot and co-pilot on board an Airbus A320 fell asleep simultaneously for about 28 minutes during a flight from Sulawesi (north of the country) to the capital Jakarta, according to a preliminary report from the National Committee of transport security (KNKT) consulted Friday by AFP.
One of the pilots did not get enough rest the night before the flight, the report said, adding that the incident led to a series of navigation errors, but that the 153 passengers and four flight attendants emerged unscathed from this two hour and thirty-five minute journey.
About half an hour after takeoff, the captain asked his co-pilot for permission to rest for a while, which he was granted. The latter then took the controls of the plane, but also inadvertently fell asleep, the report continues.
Twenty-eight minutes after the last recorded transmission, the pilot woke up and realized that his co-pilot was sleeping and that the plane was not on the correct trajectory. He immediately woke up his colleague, answered calls from Jakarta and corrected the flight path, according to the report.
The aircraft landed safely after the incident.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago stretching 5,000 km, has a poor aviation safety record, although it relies heavily on air transport to connect its thousands of islands.
© 2024 AFP
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