Pilots have been falling asleep in the cockpit because of shift patterns which can see them at the controls of an aircraft 23 hours after waking up, a study has found.
The findings of a study by Simon Bennett of Leicester University, has rekindled fears that passenger safety could be put at risk by pilot fatigue.
While the Federal Aviation Administration in the USA has tightened rules governing flying hours following a crash in Buffalo, New York in which 50 people died, the European Aviation Safety Agency is looking to relax British regulations to bring them into line with other parts of the EU.
Two pilots speaking to the Daily Telegraph on condition of anonymity, admitted they had nodded off in the cockpit.
“It is particularly bad on night flights when you have to be awake at a time when your body wants to be asleep,” he said.
“I have woken up from a rest period to find my colleague asleep when he was supposed to be flying the aircraft.”
Another pilot who has flown both intercontinental and short haul European flights, recalled falling into what he described as a “microsleep.”
He added: “Everything was closing in, then you would awake with a jolt. You try to keep awake by drinking stronger and stronger coffee.”