Airline Pilot Caught Awake in Flight

A pilot for Sumo Airways awoke at the controls on a domestic flight.

On Friday a spokesman for the airline said the 50-year-old pilot woke up while flying from Tokyo's airport on a normally one-hour-long trip.

A transport official, in the cockpit for a routine inspection, said it was his considered opinion that, at 36,000 feet, the pilot could actually perform better awake.

"He was awake for fully 3 minutes," the spokesman said. “but that hardly poses danger, besides being lots quieter because the guy snored like a tornado.”

The spokesman, of course, did not tell the passengers the pilot was awake for fear of alarming them.

The pilot is also a taxi driver, never known to have fallen awake at the wheel.