An Ita commander was fired from the company for a ten-minute "radio blackout" during the crossing, perhaps due to a fall asleep.
The incident took place on the night between April 30 and May 1 on a flight from New York to Rome Fiumicino .
After entering French airspace, the Ita plane, after 5 am, did not respond to requests from the French control center . The alarm went off immediately to the Italian counterparts, who eventually managed to get in touch. For ten minutes, however, there was a total lack of communications: as industry insiders explain, the story falls within the case called Ploc (Prolonged Loss Of Communication), i.e. a prolonged absence of communication.
Infrequent but possible episodes that involve a series of procedures at international and internal level.
At that moment there were two pilots in the cabin : the first officer was asleep, as per procedure, but the captain did not answer. One of the hypotheses, not confirmed, is precisely that of a fall asleep.
The company spoke of a breakdown of the "relationship of trust" even though it was quick to specify that the safety of the flight "has always been guaranteed" and there was no such alarm as to trigger the take-off of the defense fighters. airline: "There is no evidence of external air activity during the flight in question" the airline pointed out. After the plane's arrival in Fiumicino, an internal investigation was launched and here "strong inconsistencies between the statements made by the commander and the outcome of the internal investigations" emerged on the functioning of the on-board equipment. Hence the dismissal in the trunk.
(Unioneonline / D)
