Half of Norwegian pilots have slept in the cockpit – study

Half of all Norwegian airline pilots admit to having fallen asleep in the cockpit, according to a study published, with pilots saying their drowsiness was due to an excessive workload.

Out of 389 pilots who responded to a poll conducted on behalf of public broadcaster NRK, two per cent admitted they “often” fell asleep behind the controls without alerting their co-pilot, while 48 per cent said they had dozed off “once” or “rarely”.

“We fear that this is an indic-ation that the pilots are exhausted when they arrive at work,” said Aleksander Wasland, the vice- president of the Norwegian Airline Pilots Association.

“We have been sounding the alarm for a long time now: to make efficiency gains we have loosened the regulations by lengthening working hours and cutting back periods of rest,” he added.

According to Wasland, it is not unusual for an airline pilot to work up to 15 hours a day, and 60-hour work weeks with numerous consecutive days of up to 13 hours in the cockpit are not uncommon.

“The airplane remains a safe mode of transport, but it is obvious that these cases represent a risk element that we could do without,” he said.

“Will there need to be a big accident before we wake up?” he asked.