Mihin Lanka Snoozing Pilot Breaks His Earlier Promise

May 25, 2015

Mihin Lanka’s Capt. Wagh was reported once before for sleeping on a commercial flight en route from Dhaka to Colombo last year, employees of the Sri Lanka’s budget airline told Colombo Telegraph yesterday.

Capt Gajendra Wagh

Capt. Wagh was reported recently to have fallen asleep at the flight controls when his First Officer Subki Lafir had stepped out of the cockpit. First Officer Lafir’s requests to gain re-entry were not granted due to Capt. Wagh being fast asleep inside. Even Chennai flight controls and a passing Sri Lankan Airlines aircraft failed in their bid to attract the snoozing captain’s attention. Lafir had then used the emergency override access code to finally gain re-entry.

In an earlier reported and documented story Capt. Wagh, who commutes very often just in time to operate his scheduled flights from his home town Bombay, had once got delayed coming into Colombo to operate his scheduled turn around flight to Jakarta. His subsequent flight to Jakarta was then operated by the Captain who was a scheduled to operate the flight Dhaka instead.

“Mihin Lanka then went on to delay our commercial flight to Dhaka whilst we awaited Capt. Wagh’s arrival to Colombo” said an airline official who spoke in anonymity as he is barred from speaking to the press.

“The First Officer who operated the Colombo/Dhaka/Colombo turn around flight with him subsequently went on to a submit an Air Safety Report (ASR) on this flight citing that the fatigued Capt. Wagh had fallen asleep during the journey” continued the airline official.         Read More