A Jet Airways aircraft while on its way from Mumbai to Brussels on Friday last week dropped 5,000 feet in the Ankara airspace over Turkey suddenly.

It is learned that the commander of the Boeing 777 aircraft was taking 'controlled rest' at that time. It is still unclear whether the co-pilot too was sleeping at the same time.

The co-pilot was supposed to control the plane when the pilot was taking allowed nap but the co-pilot claimed she was busy on her tablet and failed to notice that the aircraft had lost altitude.
The Ankara ATC noticed the fall and asked the pilot why 9W-228 had moved away from its assigned flight level of 34,000 feet.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) was informed about this incident on Tuesday when its joint DG Lalit Gupta received an anonymous SMS about the "level burst", or uncontrolled descent.

The Ankara ATC had asked the Jet aircraft to take action and ascend to 32,000 feet as the airspace in Ankara has become very busy these days following the turmoil in Ukraine and Iraq.
The emergency communication from Ankara ATC forced the co-pilot to immediately wake up the pilot and he yoked the aircraft to 32,000 feet.

The incident was confirmed by Jet on Tuesday to Lalit Gupta, who is in charge of flight safety in DGCA. DGCA summoned both the commander and the co-pilot on Wednesday to initiate a probe and both of them have been grounded pending investigation.

The controlled rest which means that pilot was sleeping as per global airline norms where pilots take rest in the cockpit by turn on long flights. The DGCA said that is has initiated a probe to find out how the aircraft dropped 5,000 feet without the co-pilot realizing it. "Was some button pressed wrongly and what was the co-pilot doing - whether she was watching something on the tablet or she too had dozed off - needs to be probed," said a senior DGCA official.

"The airline is also extending all cooperation to the DGCA by providing all necessary assistance for the inquiry. Safety is of paramount importance to Jet Airways, as is also the welfare of our guests and crew, and the airline will always take appropriate steps to ensure the same," Jet said in a statement.