Batik Air plane drifted off its path after pilots fell asleep (Picture: Shutterstock/Kevin Atha)
A disaster was narrowly avoided after two pilots fell asleep for almost 30 minutes mid-flight while passengers were onboard.
A Batik Airplane in Indonesia reportedly drifted off its planned flight path after both the pilot and co-pilot snoozed off in the cockpit for 28 minutes.
The pair fell asleep despite being responsible for the lives of 153 passengers on board.
Although the plane eventually landed safely, officials have launched an investigation into the incident, which reportedly happened on January 25 as the plane was on its way from South East Sulawesi to the capital Jakarta.
Diverting off the carefully planned flight route risks a plane hitting another, with fatal consequences.
One of the pilots had not rested adequately the night before the flight, MailOnline reported.
About half an hour into the flight, the captain asked permission from his second-in-command to rest and was told yes.
Around 153 people were onboard the passenger flight to Jakarta (Picture: Shutterstock / Kristina Ismulyani)
It is common for pilots and co-pilots to take turns to rest during flight and some planes have beds in the cockpit.
However, the co-pilot also fell asleep himself.
When the area control centre in Jakarta tried contact the aircraft, they received no answer.
After 28 minutes since the last recorded transmission to flight control, the pilot woke up.
He realised the co-pilot was also asleep and that the Airbus A320 plane was not on its mapped flight path.
He woke his colleague up, responded to calls from Jakarta and corrected the flight path, a report into the incident said.
Batik Air was ‘strongly’ reprimanded by the Indonesian transport ministry, with director-general M.Kristi Endah Murni calling on airlines to pay more attention to their air crew’s rest time after the near-fatal mishap.
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She said in a statement: ‘We will carry out an investigation and review of the night flight operation in Indonesia related with Fatigue Risk Management for Batik Air and all flight operators’.
The airline said in a statement on Saturday that it ‘operates with adequate rest policy’ and that it is ‘committed to implements all safety recommendations’.
Both pilots have been temporarily suspended, Batik Air said.
The pilots were both Indonesians and aged 32 and 28, the investigators said without revealing their identity.
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