A pair of commercial pilots fell asleep in the cockpit on their way to Denver in 2004 and sped toward the airport at twice the speed allowed, according to an anonymous report by the captain on a federal safety Web site.
The unnamed pilot of the "red eye" flight said he woke up to frantic calls from air traffic controllers and landed without a problem.
The Web site is designed to improve safety by allowing such reports to be made with identifying information removed.
The alleged incident came up Wednesday during a congressional hearing on aviation safety. The airline is not named, but the report says the incident occurred on a Baltimore-Denver flight on an Airbus A319. Only United and Frontier flew those jets and that route at the time.
United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said the airline had no report of such an incident and added that United did not have a "red eye" flight between Baltimore and Denver at that time.
Frontier spokesman Joe Hodas said his airline did have a "red eye" flight on the schedule but said the company could not find a report of the alleged incident on March 4, 2004.
'Red eye' flights
Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn, mentioned the alleged incident in a House hearing.
The pilot said his schedule had been switched to three nights in a row of flying "red eye" flights. The eight-hour Denver- Baltimore round trip returned to Denver after 6 a.m.
On his third overnight flight, the pilot and first officer were sound asleep as they approached Denver International Airport. At 60 miles out, their jet was rushing toward the crowded skies surrounding the airport at Mach .82, or 608 mph, instead of the 287-mph speed required at that point.
The pilot also reported the plane was flying at 35,000 feet, above the restriction of 19,000 feet at that particular crossing point.
"Last 45 mins of flt I fell asleep and so did the FO," or first officer, according to a one-paragraph report on the incident found on the federal Aviation Safety Reporting System.
"Missed all calls from ATC" (air traffic control) asking why he was ignoring the standards for approaching DIA.
"I woke up, why I don't know, and heard frantic calls from ATC. . . . I answered ATC and abided by all instructions to get down. Woke FO up."
He spiraled the jet down to a lower altitude as ordered, then landed "with no further incidents."
The pilot concluded by saying he hoped the airline had stopped such scheduling.
No-fault reporting
Hodas said pilot fatigue is more of an issue than the public realizes.
"I think all airlines have fatigue situations with their crews," Hodas said.
As a result, the industry and individual airlines have no-fault reporting systems, such as the anonymous federal Web site, that alert officials to schedules and other issues causing crew fatigue, he said.
If a Frontier pilot says he or she is too tired to fly, the pilot is pulled off the flight, and the flight may even be canceled, Hodas said. Another major defense against fatigue is simply having two pilots, he added.
Hodas also noted that today's airliners "literally do fly themselves" with auto-pilot systems, and they have loud alarms that would sound in case of danger.
Patchwork of rules
A spokesperson for the Air Line Pilots Association could not be reached for comment on the incident.
However, ALPA's Web site notes that fatigue or what it calls "pilot pushing" has been an issue within the industry for the past 75 years.
The union contends that current U.S. rules on pilot rest are a "patchwork" of regulations that have been buttressed by collective bargaining agreements. However, such agreements affect only part of the industry.
"This puts pressure on operators to reduce flight crew rest in an insatiable drive to increase 'productivity' and reduce workforce costs," the ALPA site stated. "This pressure has been particularly intense during the economic downturn of the airline industry."
The congressman brought up the incident in a hearing about another survey on aviation safety that has been kept secret by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
