Alleged UK incident: two pilots concurrently fall asleep: could it happen here?

[Melburnian1]

Notwithstanding the proclivity of the UK tabloid media to exaggerate or at times suggest things that are completely false, could the alleged incident in the link where the pilot and co-pilot supposedly fell concurrently asleep in the coughpit occur to, from or within Australian airspace (or en route to or from on long Australia - US sectors, notwithstanding more than two air crew on board, or on shorter 'red eye' SE or N Asian to or from Australia sectors):

Both pilots asleep in the coughpit of a packed plane (but don't worry, it was on autopilot) | Mail Online

When planes are on autopilot, is there any equivalent of the railway vigilance control equipment or other mechanisms that (for trains) the driver must operate at a defined time interval such as 90 seconds with any failure on the part of the driver normally leading to the train's brakes being applied (although occasionally this has been subverted)? The aviation equivalent might be to sound some sort of alarm in the coughpit or even in the galley.

The chances of two air crew falling asleep, even momentarily, must be remote although if I correctly recall one of AFF's pilot contributors, jb747, recently commented that it was typical for pilots to continuously suffer from ongoing jetlag related issues (which may be manageable and cause for caution not alarm).

Would CASA or other Australian aviation regulatory authorities become aware of any such incidents only through voluntary reporting by the crew in the first instance and then the airline, or would the black box or other equipment 'know' of any such occurrence? If it was voluntary reporting, there would hardly be much incentive for a flight crew to dob themselves in.

 

[Happy Trails]

Pilots sleeping together?
I guess it's OK if they're consenting adults.

 

[harvyk]

Yes it could happen here.

The whole point of no blame reporting is so if an event happens which compromises safety, pilots are able to report that event without feeling like their job would be put in danger. The general idea is to resolve safety issues. If a person felt like speaking up could cost them their job then they are likely to sweep events under the carpet.

 

[The Rok]

CNN sources reporting it was Virgin Atlantic

 

[anat0l]

CNN sources reporting it was Virgin Atlantic

One version of the article I read (I think it was the UK Telegraph, or "Terrorgraph") seemed to "confirm":

• It was a British airline
• The aircraft was an Airbus A330

Based on those two clauses alone, it must be either Virgin Atlantic, Thomas Cook or Monarch.

It can't be BA, but if it happened to be I'd double down that it would've been splashed / leaked all over the press by now.

All three airlines, of course, 'deny' it was them (Thomas Cook and Monarch seem to categorically deny it was them; Virgin Atlantic simply said they can't pass comment as it's a CAA matter).

 

[Melburnian1]

Via news agencies, the Australian press have now picked up on the story:

Pilots fell asleep in coughpit on long-haul UK flight: report

 

[samh004]

Perhaps if they were allowed an iPad/other electronic advice they'd have been kept awake, good thing the FAA is on their side

 

[MEL_Traveller]

of course this could happen with an australian airline. it could happen to anyone. the newspaper reports some 56 per cent of all pilots saying they have fallen asleep, and 29 per cent saying they have woken to find the other pilot sleeping.

what to do to solve this? I guess pilots will have the answer to that.

 

[milehighclub]

When planes are on autopilot, is there any equivalent of the railway vigilance control equipment or other mechanisms that (for trains) the driver must operate at a defined time interval such as 90 seconds with any failure on the part of the driver normally leading to the train's brakes being applied (although occasionally this has been subverted)? The aviation equivalent might be to sound some sort of alarm in the coughpit or even in the galley.
.

We are required to call the flight deck every 20 minutes to ensure whoever is on is alive and well.

 

[whatmeworry]

To keep the pilots awake they just need to install seats behind them and stick a couple of kids in those seats and with the kids kicking the seats during the flight, no pilot could fall a sleep...

 

[eric2011]

We are required to call the flight deck every 20 minutes to ensure whoever is on is alive and well.

Thats very re-assuring. We are only 15 minutes till we cross the Andes mountains and we are only at 15000ft

(spoken in jest)

 

[anat0l]

We are required to call the flight deck every 20 minutes to ensure whoever is on is alive and well.

Not sure if it's appropriate for you to respond, but... suppose there is no pickup when you make this regular call to the flight deck, what is the procedure?


That said, if both pilots suddenly kick it or zone out, wouldn't the operation of the plane slowly go abnormal (but fast enough for someone to realise that something is wrong)? A bit like when someone nods off at the wheel, except in the case of a car the signs that something goes horribly wrong happens a whole lot quicker.