Sleeping pilots overshot airport by 359 miles

An Air India flight soared past its Mumbai destination on June 4 as its pilots allegedly dozed off in the cockpit.

The napping pilots flew 359 miles past the airport and were still at cruising altitude when nervous air traffic controllers woke them up.

The flight, which was on autopilot flying toward Mumbai, had about 100 passengers on board.

"The plane took off from Dubai at 1:35 a.m. Indian Standard Time and then from Jaipur at 7 a.m. After operating an overnight flight, fatigue levels peak, and so the pilots dozed off after taking off from Jaipur," an unidentified source said.

Air India officials vehemently denied the report, saying the plane lost radio contact with air traffic control for some time, and only flew 14 miles off course.

"We emphatically deny the report. No such incident took place. We've checked our records," Jitender Bhargava, Air India’s director for public relations said. Some pilots and air traffic controllers argue Air India is trying to cover up for the pilots’ mistake.

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