Posted on 03/01/2013 9:44:57 AM PST by nickcarraway
Air New Zealand insists safety aboard the aircraft was never compromised
Air New Zealand said Friday that one of its pilots fell into a deep sleep while at the controls of an international flight but insisted that safety aboard the aircraft was never compromised.
He was one of two pilots flying a 332-seat Boeing 777-300ER from London to Los Angeles in November 2011, according to a report released after a freedom of information request.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) document said the pilot voluntarily submitted a "fatigue report" with the regulator, recounting how he slept on the job.
The pilot, who was not identified, blamed a poor night's rest in London, when air-conditioning problems in his hotel meant he had to change rooms three times, for his exhausted state on the flight.
"I suddenly, and without any warning, fell into a deep sleep on the flight deck. The same event occurred twice," he said.
Air New Zealand said safety was paramount for the airline and it encouraged staff to report instances of fatigue as part of a programme to manage shift rosters to address the issue.
It said the flight in question had three pilots aboard.
"During the cruise phase of the flight one of the two operating pilots nodded off twice for around a minute and woke spontaneously," it said in a statement.
"The other operating pilot on the flight deck was aware of this and safety was not compromised at any point."
Air New Zealand said the pilot would not face disciplinary action as it did not want to discourage staff from reporting such incidents.
Results of the New Zealand Sequester?
Pilots falling asleep is not uncommon.
I’m Obama fatigued and need to report it.
I don’t care if the pilot falls asleep once we are cruising.
He isn’t really doing anything at that point.
The plane is flying itself and controls are like Microsoft Simulator.
Besides, there are two guys at the helm and I assume both are competent.
Maybe the air conditioner wouldn’t turn off?
So it just freezes up and stops working every so often?
We were orbiting in the stack over the boat one night, and I asked the back seaters a question. They were both asleep - not uncommon.
I then asked the pilot if he wanted to mess with them. No answer. He was asleep - unacceptable. Lord, I’m glad I didn’t fall asleep. It reminded me of the driving scene from National Lampoons Family Vacation.
What difference does it make? Them big planes can fly themselves.
tell that to the air france folks.
LOL
Would suck to get BSOD on both sets of controls.
We’d all be iced....
I hear ya,, Turbulence is a whole different thing, for sure.. I doubt anyone could sleep thru that..
I have no doubt this happens regularly. I just returned from the Philippines on a non stop flight from Manila to San Francisco, and I wondered if those guys were snoozing up in front.
well all the pitot tubes froze and both the autopilot and the pilots were being fed data that they misread and stalled the plane pushing the nose up when in reality they had no speed.
that time you could blame it on crew inexperience and poor crew training as well. this scenario is now practiced, and the tube design have been changed to be able to unfreeze/keep from freezing up.
“tell that to the air france folks.”
Ha, but the Air France folks were flying an AirBus piece of Euro-crap...
Think that’s a problem?
The President of the United States has been asleep for more than four years.
They can even land themselves.
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