Indonesia’s civil aviation regulators will carry out “special investigations” into Batik Air Indonesia following a safety incident involving two pilots who slept simultaneously for a time while operating a service to Jakarta.
The director-general of civil aviation Kristi Endah Murni says the regulator will also look into fatigue risk management for all flight crew as she urges Indonesian carriers to “pay attention to the time and quality of rest for pilots and other flightcrew”.
The 25 January incident, classified by investigators as “serious”, occurred on a Batik Air Indonesia Airbus A320 (PK-LUV) operating a flight from Kendari in Sulawesi province to Jakarta.
The two pilots slept for about 28min mid-flight, leading to a series of navigation errors.
It later emerged that the first officer “did not have a proper rest” the night before. The flightcrew had also operated the Jakarta-Kendari flight the same morning that departed at 02:55 local time. The aircraft landed safely at Jakarta, with no damage to aircraft or injuries to those aboard.
Indonesia’s civil aviation regulator notes that the two flightcrew involved have been taken off duty following the incident. The ministry will also dispatch a flight inspector “to find the root of the problem and recommend mitigating actions related to this case” to Batik Air Indonesia as part of its special investigations.
“We emphasise that [we will impose] sanctions [on Batik Air Indonesia] in accordance with the results of investigations,” says Kristi.
