Indonesia’s transport ministry will launch an investigation after two Batik Air pilots fell asleep during a recent flight, according to state news agency Antara, citing the ministry’s civil aviation director-general M Kristi Endah Murni.
According to a preliminary report released Saturday by the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT), both the pilot and co-pilot fell asleep simultaneously for 28 minutes during a flight from Kendari in Southeast Sulawesi province to the capital Jakarta on January 25, causing navigational errors as “the aircraft was not in the correct flight path.”
But they both needed to sleep. The flight is just 2h 40min (I’ve done this before) so it’s likely they both needed to rest a bit. I know a number of pilots in US and European airlines, and they’ve always maintained that these commuter runs are a grind.