Especially if the pilots are asleep on the job.
By Rajiv Theodore
NEW DELHI: Next time you are in a flight watch out for that sinking feeling. You could be right: the airplane must be plunging earthwards. It could be worse if the pilots are taking a nap on the deck.
This is what allegedly happened as the Brussels bound Jet Airways Boeing 777-300 ER (Extended Range) flight 9W 228, flying at an altitude of 34,000 feet, suddenly dropped height by an alarming 5,000 feet, according to its digital flight data recorder. The co-pilot who was in charge of the aircraft during the time of the incident also could have nodded off while the commander was already off to sleep. According to aviation rules one off the pilots to sleep is allowed.
The incident happened atop Turkish airspace and the Ankara air traffic control were quick to observe the unusual descent. The incident had occurred over the airspace over central Asia which is one of the most sensitive due to the bloody conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Israel.
The air traffic then alerted the Jet Airways crew and instructed them to take the plane back to the designated altitude. It was then that the co-pilot woke up the commander, who took the flight back to 34,000 feet. Jet Airways has confirmed the incident and said it has started an inquiry through which they are ascertaining whether the co-pilot slept off and that she too was not aware of the descent. The co-pilot, however, had claimed that she was at that time was browsing her tablet and was unaware of the plunge.
A veteran pilot who did not want to be named, in an interview to The American Bazaar, said the incident smacks of “sheer negligence” on the part of the co-pilot.
“In a situation when the commander is resting the co-pilot has to be on extra-alert. The incident of descent would have happened because the auto-pilot might have got disconnected. But this could have triggered off a loud beep which the co-pilot failed to hear if she claimed that she was on the tablet,” said the pilot.
Descending 5,000 feet without being aware is sheer negligence although it could be argued that a huge aircraft like Boeing losing altitude is hardly noticed by the untrained, the pilot said.
“But, whenever an aircraft, especially a sophisticated one like a Boeing descends, every 300 feet there is a beep, even this was not heard by the co-pilot is the height of negligence,” the pilot explained.
I-pads are used as part of the paperless navigation system these days for going through charts and maps. The co-pilot need not have gone through these at that moment but should have concentrated on monitoring the instruments only, the pilot said.
“This negligence is a crime of the highest order especially when about 400 passengers lives are at stake,” the pilot said.
He recalled times when as a commander he had nodded off but was extremely cautious to choose the co-pilot and had painstakingly repeated orders on monitoring the panels.
According to pilots union, BALPA, more than half of pilots have fallen asleep on the flight deck. The poll showed that of the 56 per cent who admitted nodding off, as many as 29 per cent had awoken up to find the other pilot asleep.