Pilots Nap While A320 Drifts Off Course

The 32-year-old captain of a Batik Air A320 and his 28-year-old FO (and the new father of month-old twins) have been suspended after they both fell asleep and the aircraft drifted off course. The Airbus, with 159 people on board, took off from Kendari, on the island of Sulawesi, for the 2.55-hour flight to Jakarta on Jan. 25.

About a half-hour later after reaching cruise, the captain asked the FO for permission to nap in his seat and nodded off for an hour. He woke and asked the FO if he wanted to take a rest but the FO declined and the captain went back to sleep. The FO subsequently "inadvertently fell asleep" according to Indonesian authorities and the two slumbered together for at least 28 minutes before the caption woke up and got the plane back on course.

“Several attempts to contact BTK6723 had been made by the Jakarta ACC including asking other pilots to call the BTK6723,” the report by the Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee said. “None of the calls were responded to by the BTK6723 pilots.” The report also said it had ruled out pilot fitness as a factor but did note that the FO had reported trouble sleeping at home and that he had moved residences the day before the flight.