Pilot 'falls asleep' at controls and sparks terror fears on New York to Rome trip
dailystar.co.ukpilot captaining an ITA Airways flight from New York to Rome nodded off at the controls triggering terrorist fears. Authorities in France readied two fighter jets for surveillance after traffic controllers were unable to make contact with the plane for 10 minutes.The captain, who has since been sacked, was in charge of flight AZ609 on April 30 when the incident occurred.
The Telegraph reports that the co-pilot was also napping at the time as a part of "controlled rest" protocol while the Airbus 330 was on autopilot.
This resulted in a communications blackout that ran for around 10 minutes which drew concern from ground control. The communications blackout triggered a terror alert with the French authorities who had been in regular contact with the pilots until that point, who then warned the Italian authorities that a hijacking could be taking place.
While the French authorities readied two fighter jets to fly near the Italian air carrier to surveil the cockpit, the Italian authorities contacted ITA Airways central command who tried contacting the pilots, first with satellite cell phones and then via messages on ACARS, a satellite communications tool used for transmitting short messages between planes and ground control.
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