Plane plummeted as pilot napped
A fatigued, napping Air Canada co-pilot who awoke, wrongly believed his flight was on a collision course and pushed the plane sharply downward, is to blame for a January 2011 incident that left 16 injured, the Transportation Safety Board reported Monday.
Pilot fatigue, listed as the cause of the incident involving an overnight flight from Toronto to Zurich, has dogged Transport Canada for years, and safety advocates seized on the report to press Canada to update its “significantly deficient” flight and duty times regulations that take into account people’s circadian rhythm and address time-of-day sensitivities.
“We know and we understand the human condition. We cannot change that, but we can change the conditions that pilots work under,” Barry Wiszniowski, head of technical and safety division of the Air Canada Pilots Association said Monday.
“It’s our strong belief that safety trumps politics, safety trumps commerce, and safety trumps competition.”
The sudden dip injured 14 passengers and two crew members who were not wearing seatbelts at the time of the incident.