Indonesian government launches investigation after pilots fell asleep during flight

Indonesia’s Transport Ministry will launch an investigation into Batik Air following an incident in which two pilots simultaneously fell asleep during a flight in late January, the ministry said.

In a statement published by state news agency Antara and quoted by Efe, Transport Ministry director-general Kristi Enda Murni said her agency would investigate and “review night flight operations in Indonesia to manage the risk of fatigue for Batik Air and other flight operators.”

Christy Enda Murney stressed that airlines must consider the rest time of their crew members to ensure they do not reduce their alert status, and explained that the crew of flight BTK6723, which was involved in the incident on January 25, will not be allowed to fly while the incident is investigated.

“Any sanctions will be applied in accordance with the report prepared by the investigation team,” he emphasized.

On Jan. 25, the flight was connecting between Kendari in eastern Indonesia and Jakarta, the country’s capital, and according to a report by the Indonesian National Transport Safety Committee, neither 153 passengers nor four helpers aboard the carrier’s Airbus injured 320 people during the two-hour, 35-minute crash. flight.

Half an hour after takeoff, the captain asked the co-pilot for permission to “rest” and fell asleep for 45 minutes, according to a report published in February. They then spoke briefly, and after consulting again with his co-pilot, the commander fell asleep again.

Over the next few minutes, the co-pilot contacted ground control several times asking for permission to change the route due to bad weather, but the connection died a few minutes later when he too fell asleep.

Air traffic controllers tried several times to contact the pilots, but they did not answer calls, and the plane ended up taking a slightly different route than planned.

28 minutes after the last recorded communication, the captain woke up, realized that the plane was on the wrong route and woke up the co-pilot as soon as he saw that he had also fallen asleep.

He then answered calls received from both ground control centers and from another pilot flying a different aircraft, citing problems with the radio communication system to justify the lack of response.

After adjusting the route, the plane landed safely at Jakarta airport.

The report does not reveal the names of the pilots, but states that the commander is 32 years old and the second-in-command is 28, and details their flight history in recent months and the rest they took in the 24 hours before the flight.

According to the document, the captain took off the flight the previous morning, just 19 hours earlier, while the co-pilot was not working, but was busy moving and was unable to get a good night’s sleep due to his twin children. during the period during which it was programmed to sleep.

Following this incident, the National Transportation Safety Board asked Batik Air to instruct crew members to inspect the cabin during flights to avoid similar incidents and ensure that pilots and other crew members had adequate rest.