Can your pilot go off to sleep in the cockpit midair? Yes, but...

Both pilots of Ethiopian Airlines dozed off, missing the landing and causing safety concern

Ethiopian Airlines was in the news on Friday after both pilots of its Khartoum-Addis Ababa flight dozed off in the cockpit. The aircraft continued to maintain the assigned cruise level and overflew the destination before safely landing at the airport.

Pilots can and do sleep in the cockpit, but not this way. And they certainly do not routinely miss the landing.

Typically, short distance sectors are manned by two pilots, while long-haul flights can have three or four pilots. One of the two pilots manning the cockpit is allowed to take rest or sleep inside the cockpit by sliding the seat back and locking the harness. This practice is known as “controlled rest”.

Both dozing off simultaneously is a safety concern.

Civil aviation regulators and companies lay down policies and stipulate rules on inflight rest.

For instance, one of the two pilots can take rest but not during critical stages such as take-off or landing. Also, a pilot is not supposed to doze off when flying over a high terrain area.

“The co-pilot who is monitoring the cockpit and the radio communication is not supposed to initiate altitude changes when his or her colleague is taking rest. This is because there is a possibility of aircraft overshooting the desired altitude,” a senior captain explained.

Air India operates ultra-long-haul flights to the US with a four pilot crew, and its Boeing 777 aircraft have bunk beds for rest. Crew members are not allowed to take rest until one hour after take-off and before landing on these long-haul flights.

The Boeing 777 aircraft is also equipped with a feature that relays alerts and aural warnings if no cockpit switch is touched for over 20 minutes.

“While sleepiness and fatigue is generally pronounced during the circadian low (the hours between 2 am and 6 am), a pilot can experience that during any time of the day. It all depends upon the previous flight patterns,” he explained.

In 2017, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation introduced new guidelines making it compulsory for pilots to inform the cabin crew if one of them was taking a controlled rest inside the cockpit. The pilot not taking rest was also instructed to monitor emergency radio frequency.

Cabin crew, too, were asked to establish contact with the cockpit after 20 minutes. These guidelines were issued following instances of Indian aircraft not responding to air traffic controller (ATC) instructions in Europe.

During the course of a flight, pilots are in two-way contact with air traffic controllers. They seek approvals or follow instructions for altitude changes, deviations, diversions, apart from those related to landing or take-off.

Pilots while approaching a destination have to seek clearance for descent. In absence of any change in setting, the aircraft would continue to fly at the assigned altitude.

“If a pilot does not seek a descent clearance or does not follow given instructions, it is a red flag for air traffic control,” an air traffic controller explained. “There are laid down procedures in case of a radio communication failure and the ATC will try to communicate with the aircraft on various radio frequencies.”