AIRLINE Batik Air temporarily disabled the pilot of the Kendari to Jakarta flight route who had fallen asleep for 28 minutes while flying the plane.
“On January 26 2024, Batik Air took preventive action by temporarily deactivating (releasing) the pilot of flight number ID-6723, Kendari to Jakarta route who was on duty on January 25 2024,” said Corporate Communications Strategic of Batik Air Danang Mandala Prihantoro.
The deactivation was seen as a form of Batik Air’s seriousness regarding passenger safety. Apart from that, it is to facilitate a thorough investigation.
Danang further said that Batik Air had implemented an adequate rest time policy. The company, said Danang, emphasized again its understanding of
The importance of maximizing rest time for flight crew to remain in top condition before carrying out flying duties.
“Batik Air is committed to always coordinating with regulators, flight crew and other relevant (authorized) parties in improving aviation safety standards,” he said.
Danang said Batik Air would also implement safety recommendations from the KNKT after the incident.
Previously, the KNKT, in a preliminary report accessed on the official KNKT website, revealed that a serious problem occurred when one of the Batik Air planes flew in the air from Kendari to Jakarta.
The problem was related to the two pilots on the flight accidentally falling asleep for 28 minutes, causing a series of navigation errors. The total number of passengers on the plane to Jakarta was recorded as 153 people.
When the aircraft reaches a cruising altitude of 36 thousand feet (cruising), the pilot and co-pilot remove the headset and the cockpit speaker volume is increased. At that time the pilot asked the co-pilot for permission to rest, and the co-pilot took over the pilot’s duties temporarily.
A few moments later, the pilot fell asleep with the copilot who was still awake taking over his duties. After some time, the pilot woke up and asked the co-pilot if he wanted to rest, but the co-pilot refused.
“The two pilots then had an off-duty conversation for about 30 seconds and then the PIC (pilot) continued to sleep. The SIC (copilot) knew that the PIC was sleeping and continued his duties as both pilot and copilot,” explained the preliminary report.
During these seconds of the flight, coordination between the ACC co-pilots in the Jakarta area should have been established. However, at 01:43:42 UTC when ACC Jakarta asked the flight crew how long the plane had been flying on its path, there was no response from the crew
cockpit.
The co-pilot apparently fell asleep accidentally.
Then, or about 12 minutes after the last transmission, ACC Jakarta again attempted to make contact with the plane, but still did not get a response.
Then a number of attempts were made to contact the pilot and co-pilot, including contacting the pilot of another aircraft to help him, but there was no response from aircraft BTK6723.
After that, at 02:11 UTC or about 28 minutes since the last transmission, the pilot woke up and realized that his co-pilot was asleep and the plane was off the flight path.
The pilot immediately woke up the co-pilot and responded to calls from ACC and the pilot of the other aircraft. The plane was then directed back to the correct flight path, and successfully landed at Soekarno-Hatta Airport safely. (Ant/Z-3)
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