 "Indonesian airline Batik Air is under fire after its two pilots fell asleep mid-flight in January. Reuters File Photo")
Pilot fatigue is back in the news after reports of two pilots falling asleep on an Indonesian airline came to light this week. Indonesia has launched a probe into local carrier Batik Air after it was found that both its pilots drifted off for 28 minutes during a January flight with over 150 people on board.
The pilots have been temporarily suspended and the airline has come under scrutiny.
Let’s take a closer look.
What happened on Indonesian flight?
The Airbus A320 veered off course for a while as both the pilots dozed for nearly half an hour mid-flight on 25 January. However, the aircraft landed safely, with no harm to any of the 153 passengers and crew members, BBC reported.
According to a report by Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee, the incident took place on a roundtrip to Jakarta when the 32-year-old commanding pilot asked his second-in-command if he could take a rest, which the latter allowed.
After 20 minutes, the 28-year-old co-pilot “inadvertently fell asleep” when the flight was roughly 36,000 feet in the air, CBS News reported.
The co-pilot was reportedly tired from helping his wife take care of their one-month-old twin babies.
There was no contact with the cockpit of the Batik Air A320 for 28 minutes. It was then that the commanding pilot woke up and realised that the “aircraft was not in the correct flight path”, CBS News cited the transport ministry report.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe pilots then responded to calls from Jakarta air traffic control and landed the aircraft safely.
Aviation expert Alvin Lie told BBC Indonesian that the pilots seemed to be fully rested ahead of the flight but medical tests failed to ascertain whether the “quality of their rest was good”.
What is pilot fatigue?
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) says fatigue is a “physiological state of reduced mental or physical performance capability resulting from sleep loss or extended wakefulness, circadian phase, or workload (mental and/or physical activity) that can impair a crew member’s alertness and ability to safely operate an aircraft or perform safety-related duties.”
Pilot fatigue is a global problem. In 2020, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) identified “the state of well-being and fitness for duties” as the leading safety issue for large planes.
A survey conducted last year of 6,900 pilots employed in Europe found that 72.9 per cent felt they did not get enough rest to recover between shifts. Three quarters also reported experiencing microsleeps in the cockpit.
The issue assumes all the more importance in India which is the world’s fastest-growing aviation market. A 2022 study by the non-profit organisation Safety Matters Foundation stated that 66 per cent of 542 surveyed Indian pilots admitted falling asleep on the flight without the consent of their fellow pilots.
About 31 per cent revealed having a close call while flying which could have caused an incident due to fatigue.
The survey blamed fatigue as one of the main reasons for airplane accidents, along with pilots being unable to cope well with the pressures of their jobs, Hindustan Times (HT) reported.
In January, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India’s aviation regulator, sprung to action after an IndiGo pilot suddenly collapsed and died last August before his flight. Introducing changes to Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) for flight crew, the DGCA increased the mandatory weekly rest period from 36 hours to 48 hours.
For pilots working at night, it further reduced the maximum flight duty period to 10 hours from 13 hours. The DGCA also limited the number of flight landings to two during night operations. The regulator made it compulsory for airline operators to submit quarterly fatigue reports and comply with the revised regulations by 1 June 2024, Reuters reported.
The revised regulations came following a rare review of pilot fatigue data by the air safety watchdog that it collected during spot checks and surveillance of airlines.
In the United States, pilots on two-pilot flights can be on duty for a maximum of 14 hours during the day and nine hours for late-night operations, as per Reuters.
The magic pill that helps pilots stay awake
The issue of pilot fatigue is not new. In fact, some drugs are used by militaries across the world to tackle the situation.
Modafinil is one such pill. It was developed in the 1970s for treating narcolepsy – a disorder that affects the brain’s control over sleeping and waking up – and excessive daytime sleepiness. It not only keeps you awake but also enhances alertness and boosts overall cognitive ability, as per BBC.
However, the medication has its own side effects including headache, nausea, nervousness, dizziness, or even hallucinations.
Today, the drug is widely available and is famous in military aviation circles. Fighter pilots used the powerful stimulants as go-pills. The drug is also used by Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots.
A 2016 report in Times of India (TOI) said IAF fighter pilots pop the pill to increase alertness, improve cognitive performance, and battle fatigue and sleep deprivation during round-the-clock combat exercises and long-range sorties.
Air forces in Singapore, France, the Netherlands, and the US are also allowed to use Modafinil.
Although the drug is less addictive than amphetamines, it can still be abused. Studies also show that Modafinil can lead to people becoming overconfident while taking judgement, something that can result in tragedy during critical operations.
Speaking to BBC, Yara Wingelaar-Jagt, a lieutenant colonel and head of the aerospace medicine department at the Dutch Ministry of Defence in Soesterberg, the Netherlands, said that though the drug improves performance even in times of fatigue, it should not be recommended for commercial pilots.
“I believe for commercial aviation we have to be sceptical about what we ask of our pilots and our society. Do we really need our commercial pilots to fly through the night to get us to our city trip, or do we need to accept that even humans have their limits and respect the universal need for sleep?”
With inputs from agencies