Comments on: Commercial pilots may have fallen asleep at yoke http://boingboing.net/2008/06/30/commercial-pilots-ma.html Brain candy for Happy Mutants Wed, 22 May 2013 19:37:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: phillamb168 http://boingboing.net/2008/06/30/commercial-pilots-ma.html#comment-222486 phillamb168 Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-222486 @Otter not helping my faith in the post-Nyquil Bernoulli principle there... @Otter not helping my faith in the post-Nyquil Bernoulli principle there…

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2008/06/30/commercial-pilots-ma.html#comment-222495 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-222495 Go! Airlines pilots fell asleep and passed the Big Island in Hawaii a few months ago. It's not just Air India... Go! Airlines pilots fell asleep and passed the Big Island in Hawaii a few months ago. It’s not just Air India…

]]> By: spazzm http://boingboing.net/2008/06/30/commercial-pilots-ma.html#comment-222370 spazzm Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-222370 When is Air India going to learn that pilots need liberal amounts of amphetamines? When is Air India going to learn that pilots need liberal amounts of amphetamines?

]]> By: PilotJoe http://boingboing.net/2008/06/30/commercial-pilots-ma.html#comment-222373 PilotJoe Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-222373 Pretty much from say 30,000 ft in a 737 you're descending at 300ft per mile (3 degree descent) so you start descending at about 100 miles out (wind dependent). That they overshot the runway by 15KM means they were 2 minutes over their stated destination. They would have been under radar/air traffic control and if they had not been cleared for landing then they were not allowed to do so. Out of radio contact means maintain present altitude and course (obstacles permitting) and attempt to regain radio contact. If they plane was at 30,000 ft over Mumbia then they were asleep. If the plane was at 5,000 ft over Mumbia then they just lost contact. The press really don't have an idea when it comes to reporting aviation incidents. More facts required. Pretty much from say 30,000 ft in a 737 you’re descending at 300ft per mile (3 degree descent) so you start descending at about 100 miles out (wind dependent).

That they overshot the runway by 15KM means they were 2 minutes over their stated destination.

They would have been under radar/air traffic control and if they had not been cleared for landing then they were not allowed to do so. Out of radio contact means maintain present altitude and course (obstacles permitting) and attempt to regain radio contact.

If they plane was at 30,000 ft over Mumbia then they were asleep.

If the plane was at 5,000 ft over Mumbia then they just lost contact.

The press really don’t have an idea when it comes to reporting aviation incidents.

More facts required.

]]> By: Piratecat http://boingboing.net/2008/06/30/commercial-pilots-ma.html#comment-223397 Piratecat Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-223397 For a decade I worked for a company which does industrial fatigue, alertness consulting and work schedule design. We were the folks you'd call when your airline pilots or nuclear control room workers fell asleep at 3am. And I'll tell you, based on my experience the only thing odd about this case is that they didn't wake up in time and overshot the airport. Pilots try not to, but they can't help but fall asleep all the time. They're human, too, and are often on rapidly changing rotas that vary their sleep/wake times. Look around a cabin at 3am; pilots are no less susceptible to sleepiness than anyone else. Luckily, technology does a wonderful job of providing backup and preventing actual human error. For a decade I worked for a company which does industrial fatigue, alertness consulting and work schedule design. We were the folks you’d call when your airline pilots or nuclear control room workers fell asleep at 3am. And I’ll tell you, based on my experience the only thing odd about this case is that they didn’t wake up in time and overshot the airport.

Pilots try not to, but they can’t help but fall asleep all the time. They’re human, too, and are often on rapidly changing rotas that vary their sleep/wake times. Look around a cabin at 3am; pilots are no less susceptible to sleepiness than anyone else. Luckily, technology does a wonderful job of providing backup and preventing actual human error.

]]> By: phillamb168 http://boingboing.net/2008/06/30/commercial-pilots-ma.html#comment-222404 phillamb168 Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-222404 Here's to rested pilots for my Air India flight to Paris next month. Here’s to rested pilots for my Air India flight to Paris next month.

]]> By: WaveyDave http://boingboing.net/2008/06/30/commercial-pilots-ma.html#comment-222685 WaveyDave Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-222685 Reminds me of the old Tommy Cooper gag - "I'd like to die the same way as my father, peacefully in his sleep and not like his passengers - screaming with terror"... Reminds me of the old Tommy Cooper gag – “I’d like to die the same way as my father, peacefully in his sleep and not like his passengers – screaming with terror”…

]]> By: Otter http://boingboing.net/2008/06/30/commercial-pilots-ma.html#comment-222440 Otter Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-222440 I fly Jet Airways in India! Air India makes even cost-cutting corporate travel agents nervous. I fly Jet Airways in India! Air India makes even cost-cutting corporate travel agents nervous.

]]> By: help i cant comfirm my username themelonbread http://boingboing.net/2008/06/30/commercial-pilots-ma.html#comment-223979 help i cant comfirm my username themelonbread Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-223979 Both airplane pilots and control room workers fall asleep all the time. There's nothing implausible about this story, so why does Air India deny it? Both airplane pilots and control room workers fall asleep all the time. There’s nothing implausible about this story, so why does Air India deny it?

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