With commander asleep, Jet Airways flight plunges 5000 ft

In an alarming incident, a Jet Airways flight with over 280 passengers plunged 5,000 feet while overflying Turkish airspace last week as the commander was asleep and the co-pilot busy with an iPad carrying flight information, leading DGCA to suspend both of them.
Terming it a "serious incident", the Directorate General of Civil Aviation also initiated a probe into it and set up a three-member team to review the airline's entire flight training programmes and facilities, official sources said.
DGCA directed the airline to come forward with all related reports, as well as the records of the Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) within this week, they said, adding that the team reviewing Jet's training programme has been asked to submit its report by August 31.

The incident occurred last Friday when the Boeing 777-300, operating flight 9W-228 from Mumbai to Brussels and onwards to Newark, plunged from 34,000 feet to 29,000 feet while traversing on the busy air route to Europe.
As the aircraft descended, the air traffic control at Ankara sent an emergency message to the aircraft asking the pilots why they had deviated from the assigned flight path and directed them to climb up to the designated height immediately.
Both pilots, who were suspended on Tuesday, were summoned by DGCA yesterday for questioning.

While the commander said he was on "controlled rest", implying a short nap inside the cockpit which is allowed by flight operation procedures, the co-pilot told DGCA that she was working on her iPad or the electronic flight bag which has all aircraft documents loaded on to it, the sources said.

Immediately after the Ankara ATC message, the co-pilot woke up the commander who restored the height of the plane.
Confirming the incident, an airline spokesperson said Jet Airways has initiated an internal inquiry into the matter.
"The airline is also extending all co-operation in the matter to the DGCA by providing all necessary assistance for the inquiry. Safety is of paramount importance to Jet Airways as is also the welfare of our guests and crew and the airline will always take appropriate steps to ensure the same," the spokesperson said.