"Missed it by That Much" – Pilot Misses Airport by 15 Miles

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I find it very easy to relax on a Hawaiian vacation. There is something about that tropics that de-stresses me. Maybe this also happens with airline pilots. How else could you explain a recent incident where a plane flying to Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii forgot to land.

It’s one thing for passengers on a short flight to grab 40 winks.

But it’s quite another for both the captain and his co-pilot to take a power nap at 21,000 feet.

Last night, two pilots were accused of falling asleep at the controls of a passenger jet and overshooting the airport by 15 miles.

Going, going, gone: The pilots overshot the Hilo airport runway by 15 miles

The aircraft was left on auto-pilot as the crew went off the radar and the jet drifted off course over the Pacific.

The captain and his co-pilot have been grounded and are under investigation for allegedly snoozing through 11 calls from air traffic controllers desperate to reach them.

When the skipper finally picked up a call and was asked by a panicked controller if there was anything wrong, he responded: “Uh, no emergency situation.”