Fly Delta
Airlines
By Russ Niles
This might define the term “rude awakening”
for pilots. Various
media sources are reporting that two Delta
Airlines pilots commanding a flight from Germany to Kuwait fell asleep at the
controls of their Boeing 767-400ER and only woke up after flight attendants
banged on the cockpit door to tell them there were two Greek F-16s on their
wing. To make matters worse, the incident occurred only a few hours after
EgyptAir Flight 804 disappeared in the same general area. We’ve asked Delta
for confirmation of the sleeping part but so far the airline has only issued
the following reassuring statement. "While transiting to Greek airspace,
the flight crew of Delta flight 8957, a charter operation from Hahn, Germany
to Kuwait, was unable to establish radio communications with Greek air
traffic control for a short period,” the statement said. "This occurred
during a handoff between air traffic control agencies and communications were
expeditiously re-established. At no point did the Boeing 767-400ER leave its
planned route of flight.”
In the cabin, however, things were apparently
not so calm according to media
reports. After repeated attempts by ATC to contact
the airliner with no result, the F-16s were scrambled. The fighter pilots
tried to raise the big Boeing on the radio and when that didn’t work, they
tried lights and hand signals from abeam the aircraft. They reportedly could
clearly see the snoozing pilots. When the fighters moved up beside the
airliner, they were, of course, in full view of the passengers, who alerted
the flight attendants. It apparently took a few raps on the cockpit door to
rouse one of the pilots. The aircraft landed routinely at its destination but
it’s likely that things will be anything but routine for the pilots for the
next while.
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