Two pilots for Hawaii's Go airlines who slept through their flight's landing procedure were suspended for the careless and reckless operation of an aircraft, the Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday.

The pilots, who have been fired by Go, completed their suspensions on September 9, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said. He did not know whether they are flying again with a different carrier.

Captain Scott Oltman, 54, who was also cited for failing to maintain radio communications, had his license suspended for 60 days. First Officer Dillon Shepley, 24, was suspended for 45 days.

Gregor said no action was taken against Go because it did nothing wrong and provided the pilots with a 15-hour break before their shift, nearly double what the FAA requires.

The National Transportation Safety Board had determined the two pilots fell asleep on the February 13 flight from Honolulu to Hilo.

Yikes!

 

I expected it to say they fell asleep on the Pacific crossing or some LONG flight. Falling asleep from Hilo to Honolulu? Were they sleeping off the "refreshments" they had at the airport bar during that 15 hour break?

 

That is a really short flight, why would they BOTH need to sleep?

 

its a 45 minute flight, whoa they must have been tanked! Thanks to autopilot!

 

So much for the twelve hour from bottle to throttle rule that the FAA has, if that was the case IMHO. Once they overflew Hilo I wonder if the autopilot put the turn into a steep bank (concerning the passengers) after overflying the VOR at Hilo?

 

One of the pilots has been diagnosed with a sleep apnea condition.
wonder what he'll do for work now?

 

Try not to make assumptions here. There is no evidence they were "tanked".

 

Sounds like narcolepsy. Glad I wasn't on that plane.

Any possibility that maybe they weren't getting enough oxygen? Planes don't seem to circulate fresh air in as often as they should (someone said doing so is a cost issue?).

 

On my checkride to get my private pilots license, I looked back (I was in a tandom a/c) and the tester/instructor was nodding off. BTW, I passed.

 

True.