A senior pilot has been suspended after his co-pilot shared a video of him sleeping mid-flight; but the airline also suspended the co-pilot for not waking him up! Ooooops.
The senior pilot caught sleeping on duty has been identified as Weng Jiaqi; he had been promoted to chief pilot last year. Though the high-ranking pilot has been working for China Airlines, Taiwan’s biggest carrier, for over 20 years, the airline officials suspended him for ‘improper behavior’ while carrying out his duties.
While it was unclear when the incident happened and on what flight Jiaqi had slept on, China Airlines had verified that he had slept mid-flight as he was in-charge of a Boeing 747. Though the passengers’ lives were never in danger even when the pilot was asleep, sleeping on the job was still frowned upon especially because this is just a short-haul flight.
Jiaqi is assigned as short-haul pilot in flights covering cities like Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Tokyo, Okinawa and Seoul. Aside from being the senior pilot to these flights, Jiaqi also supervises training of new pilots.
In the video that had gone viral on social media, after it was shared on Taiwanese TV network EBC, the middle-aged pilot could be seen sitting in the cockpit wearing a headset and his pilot uniform, deep in sleep with his head down.
His co-pilot was obviously away, of course, and could certainly handle the flight. The airplane was never in danger during that flight – and the co-pilot must surely be just taking a video of the senior pilot for fun.
But because the co-pilot posted this on social media, both of them were suspended for the ‘improper behavior’; the senior pilot was suspended for sleeping mid-flight while the co-pilot also received punishment for not waking him up.
— Joy Adalia, The Summit Express
The senior pilot caught sleeping on duty has been identified as Weng Jiaqi; he had been promoted to chief pilot last year. Though the high-ranking pilot has been working for China Airlines, Taiwan’s biggest carrier, for over 20 years, the airline officials suspended him for ‘improper behavior’ while carrying out his duties.
While it was unclear when the incident happened and on what flight Jiaqi had slept on, China Airlines had verified that he had slept mid-flight as he was in-charge of a Boeing 747. Though the passengers’ lives were never in danger even when the pilot was asleep, sleeping on the job was still frowned upon especially because this is just a short-haul flight.
Jiaqi is assigned as short-haul pilot in flights covering cities like Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Tokyo, Okinawa and Seoul. Aside from being the senior pilot to these flights, Jiaqi also supervises training of new pilots.
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| Photo credit: Airlive Net |
In the video that had gone viral on social media, after it was shared on Taiwanese TV network EBC, the middle-aged pilot could be seen sitting in the cockpit wearing a headset and his pilot uniform, deep in sleep with his head down.
His co-pilot was obviously away, of course, and could certainly handle the flight. The airplane was never in danger during that flight – and the co-pilot must surely be just taking a video of the senior pilot for fun.
But because the co-pilot posted this on social media, both of them were suspended for the ‘improper behavior’; the senior pilot was suspended for sleeping mid-flight while the co-pilot also received punishment for not waking him up.
— Joy Adalia, The Summit Express
