Pilots fall asleep mid-flight with 150 people onboard

Bongani Bingwa catches up on the latest world news from Adam Gilchrist.

Listen to the discussion below (skip to 1:36). 

Two Indonesian Airlines pilots fell asleep midway through a flight, sending the aeroplane in the wrong direction.

On the first leg of the flight from Jakarta to Kendarithe, the second-in-command told the pilot that he did not sleep well, and the pilot allowed him to nap. 

On the flight back to Jakarta, the commanding pilot asked the secondary if he could take a turn to rest. 

While the pilot was napping, the secondary fell asleep at 36 000 feet with 153 passengers and four flight attendants on board. 

Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee says air traffic control was unable to contact the drifting plane.  

After 28 minutes, the commanding pilot woke up and found the aircraft on the wrong flight path.

There were no injuries, and the two pilots have been suspended.

“Nothing happened, but you don’t want to be sitting on a plane thinking that your pilot might be asleep."

- Adam Gilchrist

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.