First as a disclaimer we must tell you that don't read any further if you are to take a flight within a short while. The reason is, even though our intention is not to scare you off but the news is such that after reading you'll definitely encounter a-chill-in-your-spine .  

The justification of this long prologue is, in a study conducted by the European Cockpit Association (ECA) found a horrific fact that every one-in-three airline pilots have fallen asleep at the controls of commercial jetliners carrying hundreds of passengers . The research was carried out in UK,Austria, Sweden,Norway, Germany and Denmark, revealing four out of five pilots have to cope with fatigue while in the cockpit. It's definitely a fear-and-napping-in-the-sky-syndrome if you are still being able to put humor in this scary state of affair.

Between 43 and 54 per cent of pilots surveyed in the UK, Norway and Sweden said they had already fallen asleep 'involuntarily' while flying - and a third of these pilots found their colleagues were also asleep when they woke up. More than three out of five pilots in Sweden, Norway and Denmark reported making mistakes due to fatigue, while in Germany, this figure was four out of five.

Between 70 and 80 per cent of exhausted pilots would not declare themselves unfit to fly for fear of being stigmatized by their employers or left facing disciplinary action. More than 6,000 European pilots were surveyed for the study, between 2010 and 2012.

The ECA says the study shows that fatigue among pilots is a "common, dangerous and under-reported phenomenon in Europe". On a lighter note, next time you take a flight just make sure your captain is announcing " I'm  awake ladies and gentlemen” time to time instead of taking a nap thousand feet high in the sky...! Seriously, the line must be drawn thus far...but no further..

(AW-Jyotishman)