Airline pilot asleep at controls

[DBAHO]

JAPANESE carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA) has apologised following the revelation that the captain of one its jets dozed off at the controls during a domestic flight in March.

 

The 50-year-old Japanese captain, whose name has been withheld, fell asleep while piloting the Boeing 767-300 jumbo jet with 184 passengers and crew on board on March 23.

 

His nap did not affect the flight from Tokyo's Haneda airport to Yamaguchi-Ube airport, some 800km west of the capital, as the aircraft's controls were switched to auto-pilot, said a spokesman for the nation's second largest airline.

 

The veteran captain, who has logged 12,700 hours of flying time, started snoozing some 20 minutes after take-off when the airplane had levelled off and was on auto-pilot, the spokesman said.

 

He was woken up by the co-pilot but fell asleep again before landing at Yamaguchi-Ube.

 

His snooze was discovered as a transport ministry examiner, who happened to enter the cockpit to check the operating procedures, found the captain dozing off and reported the case to the ministry.

 

"We deeply apologise for the case," the ANA spokesman said. "We let all of our flight crew employees take thorough measures to maintain safe navigation and take care of their health," he said.

 

On the day he fell asleep at the controls, the captain had woken up at 5:00 am after sleeping for some seven hours, the spokesman said, adding that there had been no problem with his condition before the flight.

 

The captain is currently undergoing medical tests to see if he is suffering from sleep apnea syndrome, which can cause those affected to suddenly fall asleep in the daytime.

 

The driver of a Shinkansen bullet train with 800 passengers on board which ran for 26km at 270km/h as he slept soundly at the controls in February last year was found to be suffering from sleep apnea.