Experienced Pilot Falls Into Deep Sleep in Cockpit in Viral Video

Colin Fredericson
By Colin Fredericson
February 22, 2019International
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Experienced Pilot Falls Into Deep Sleep in Cockpit in Viral Video
A China Airlines' plane takes off from Taoyuan International Airport on Sept. 28, 2010. (Sam Yeh/AFP/Getty Images)

A China Airlines pilot was caught sleeping while flying a Boeing 747.

A video clip recorded by the co-pilot has already gone viral on social media. The video shows the pilot slumped over in his seat, in what looks like a deep sleep state. The video appeared days after China Airlines pilots ended an unprecedented seven-day strike.

The pilot, Weng Jiaqi, is a senior officer with almost 20 years’ experience who flies mainly to Tokyo, Okinawa, Seoul, and Hong Kong from China Airlines’ base in Taiwan, Daily Mail reported. He is also a chief instructor at the China Airlines Flight Training Center, in charge of flight simulations.

Both pilot and co-pilot were disciplined. The co-pilot, who shot the video, got in trouble for not immediately waking the pilot. The clip was supposedly filmed before the pilot strike started, according to Daily Mail.

“In this instance, the pilot himself voluntarily reported his inappropriate behavior in the cockpit to China Airlines,” the airline said in a statement to Daily Mail. “The co-pilot has also been reprimanded according to regulations. Flight safety is of paramount importance to China Airlines.”

Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Law prohibits pilots from sleeping in the cockpit during a flight, according to Taiwan News.

“He knew he was wrong, so he asked for a warning. It wasn’t very serious. So when he administered the simulator exam later, he failed a lot of people. maybe he wanted to get revenge because he didn’t know who reported him,” a pilot that did not want to be named told EBC News.

But Daily Mail reported that a pilot is generally allowed to have a “controlled rest” on a long flight, but that it is typically done with the seat pulled back and away from the controls.

Over 600 China Airlines pilots went on strike mainly over issues of fatigue and overwork. The Taoyuan Union of Pilots and the airlines underwent four rounds of negotiation before coming to an agreement, Daily Mail reported.

Strikes in Taiwan are rare compared to western countries, but pilots in Taiwan hold more sway because good pilots are harder to come by, John Brebeck, senior advisor at the Quantum International Corp. investment consultancy in Taiwan, told the Los Angeles Times.

Safety is an issue on China Airlines flights, according to the Los Angeles Times. The airline suffered 18 crashes and mishaps between 1969 and 2007. The airline was founded in 1959 and normally has 1,400 weekly flights to over 100 cities.

The last time Taiwan had a major strike was in 2017, when 500 flight attendants for Taiwan’s other major airline, Eva Airlines, forced the airline to let them use their right to take a day off during a typhoon threat. Fifty flights were cancelled as a result, adding to those already delayed or cancelled due to the weather.

The Points Guy reported that pilots are required by law on some longer flights to sleep, but that the sleeping typically does not occur in the cockpit. The article talks about hidden rooms out of sight of passengers, or on smaller planes in dedicated seats and fold-down beds, within or adjacent to passenger seating areas.

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