You Can't Make This Stuff Up 062908

Remind me not to fly Air India.

Hey folks,

For those of you who do a lot of traveling by air, you may want to join me in NOT taking Air India. You know, I have traveled quite a bit in planes and I have tried everything I can think of to stay awake. The problem is, I just find myself falling asleep EVERY TIME if the flight is over three hours. I have tried reading, getting up and walking around, eating, drinking, ETC. Yet, it seems inevitable that I will close my eyes and find myself asleep. You see, so do the other passengers who have to then listen to me snore. {Smile}

But that's OK for me. I'm a passenger. What about the Pilots? According to AFP, they fall asleep too.

An Air India flight headed for Mumbai overshot its destination and was halfway to Goa before its dozing pilots were woken out of a deep slumber by air traffic control, a report said.

The high altitude nap took place approximately two weeks ago, the Times of India reported Thursday. The report, however, drew a furious denial from Air India.

Some 100 passengers were on board the state-run flight that originated from Dubai and flew to the western Indian city of Jaipur before heading south to Mumbai when both pilots fell asleep, a source told the paper.

Could THAT be the answer? State-run flight? I bet you THEIR Pilots do not get a say on how many flights, hours, or off time they get.

"After operating an overnight flight, fatigue levels peak -- and so the pilots dozed off after taking off from Jaipur," the source, who was not identified in the report, said.

I wonder if they snore. Of course they, the Government, DENIES this. They seem a little angry about it also. {Smile}

"The report is absolutely incorrect, devoid of facts, misleading and irresponsible. It is a figment of imagination," Air India spokesman Jitender Bhargava told AFP by telephone from Mumbai.

"We have gone through the flight reports of the last 30 days. A plane did cross Mumbai for 15 kilometres because it had lost contact for a few moments. At those speeds 15 kilometres is covered in a very short time."

Bhargava accused the Times of India, one of the country's biggest papers, of "batting for somebody." The daily has said in its report that authorities were trying to hush up the incident.

Then you have this.

Indian papers also reported this week that a flight operated by private airline Jetlite to the central Indian city of Patna was grounded after the pilot was allegedly found to be drunk.

Yeah, I do not think I will be flying Air India any time soon. It also goes to show you how much better things are when Government takes over private industries. {Smile} Don't ya think?
Peter

Sources:
AFP - Plane soars past destination as pilots doze: report