Queensland pilot falls asleep for 40 minutes during solo flight

A Queensland pilot was lucky to avoid disaster after he fell asleep at the controls of a plane for 40 minutes.

The pilot was ferrying a Cessna 208B from Cairns to Redcliffe in July last year when he fell asleep and overshot his intended airport by more than 110 kilometers.

An investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau found fatigue and mild hypoxia contributed to the dangerous incident.

“One of the contributing factors to this was that he had to climb up to 10,000 feet ands according to the report he didn’t use any supplementary oxygen,” aviation expert Brian Wilson told Ross and Russel.

“This particular pilot has around 20,000 hours.”

Air traffic control tried to contact the pilot several times without a response.

Thankfully, the pilot woke up and managed to land safely at Gold Coast Airport.

Press PLAY below for more about the incident