Fatigue and drowsiness overtook an Australian pilot for 40 minutes while flying a small passenger aircraft in an incident that nearly led to disaster. The incident occurred on July 2, 2020, over Queensland, northern Australia, but the investigation into the incident recently concluded. The plane was on a domestic flight in Australia from Cairns to Redcliffe, according to the British newspaper "The Independent."
The investigation found that the exhausted pilot fell asleep for 40 minutes in the cockpit, causing the plane to pass the airport where it was supposed to land. The flight was a "repositioning" flight, meaning there were no passengers on board. The Cessna 208 Caravan can accommodate 9 passengers in addition to the pilot.
The issue was first discovered when air traffic control attempted to contact the pilot regarding an imminent landing at Redcliffe Airport, but the staff received no response for 40 minutes. After that, they tried to alert the pilot using a nearby aircraft. The pilot did approach the Cessna in an attempt to activate the collision avoidance system, but this attempt also failed, and the pilot remained asleep.
When the plane was flying 111 kilometers southeast of the airport over the Pacific, the pilot woke up and reported what had happened to air traffic control. Fortunately, the aircraft safely landed at Gold Coast Airport, more than 128 kilometers away from Redcliffe Airport. Pilots typically rely on the autopilot system to help them avoid the tiring manual controls during flight.
