Copilot Was Said To Be 'Working On Her Tablet'

An investigation has been launched into an incident over Turkey in which a Boeing 777-300 en route to Brussels from Mumbai lost 5,000 feet in altitude while the pilot was reportedly taking a nap, and the copilot was looking at a tablet device.

The UK newspaper The Daily Mail relays a report from The Times of India that alleges the pilot had gone to sleep at the time of the incident. The copilot told investigating officials that she was "busy on her tablet" and failed to notice the loss of altitude. But officials are reportedly looking into whether the copilot was also asleep.

The pilots were eventually alerted about their deviation from their assigned altitude by air traffic controllers. There was a potential conflict with other airplanes flying at the lower altitude. The airspace over Turkey is busier now with many airlines avoiding overflights of Ukraine.

The crew did not report the incident to India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation, which was notified about the uncontrolled descent by an anonymous text message. Both the pilot and copilot have been suspended while the investigation is ongoing.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.dgca.nic.in