Is it me, or do flights with a flight number that carries the number “7” in there do seem to suffer from disasters lately, as well as potentially fatal moments? In a heart thumping moment, Jet Airways’ Boeing 777-300ER which was making its way from Brussels all the way to Mumbai actually dropped 5,000 feet before the situation was corrected. Apparently, the pilot and captain was taking a “controlled rest”, while the co-pilot who was supposedly handling the flight controls was too busy with her iPad to notice the descent.
Thankfully, alert air traffic controllers on the ground managed to alert the crew of the problem, and the descent was corrected to the desired altitude – before any disaster happened. Needless to say, the flight touched down in Mumbai, India, safely, but the pilots failed to inform India’s Director General of Civil Aviation or the airline concerning incident, although an anonymous text message was sent to the former.
An investigation was then kicked off with both pilots having their wings suspended. While the co-pilot claimed that she was occupied with her tablet, investigators do suspect that she could very well have fallen asleep. Perhaps pilots should see their use of portable electronics devices restricted as well.
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