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Pilots sleep - plane misses destination
June 26, 2008

An Air India flight headed for Mumbai overshot its destination and was
halfway to Goa before its dozing pilots were woken up by air traffic
control, a report said.

The high altitude nap took place approximately two weeks ago, the
Times of India reported on Thursday.

Some 100 passengers were on board the state-run flight that originated
from Dubai and flew to the western Indian city of Jaipur before
heading south to Mumbai when both pilots fell asleep, a source told
the paper.

"After operating an overnight flight, fatigue levels peak - and so the
pilots dozed off after taking off from Jaipur," the source, who was
not identified in the report, said.

The plane flew to Mumbai on autopilot, but when air traffic there
tried to help the aircraft land, the plane ignored their instructions
and carried on at full speed towards Goa.

"It was only after the aircraft reached Mumbai airspace that air
traffic control realised it was not responding to any instructions and
was carrying on its own course," the source said.

"The aircraft should have begun its descent about 100 miles (160km)
from Mumbai, but here it was still at cruising altitude. We checked
for hijack."

Finally air traffic control buzzed the cockpit and woke up the pilots,
who turned the plane around, the report said.

When contacted by the newspaper, Air India said it was gathering
information on the incident.
The manager of Mumbai's airport insisted the aircraft had suffered a
"communications failure" and that no napping had taken place.

But sources told the daily that authorities were trying to hush up the matter.

Indian papers reported this week that a flight operated by private
airline Jetlite to the central Indian city of Patna was grounded after
the pilot was found to be drunk.