Sleep science says the pilot who nodded off for 28 minutes at cruising altitude wasn't being careless — he was legally "rested" by every rule on the books, and fell asleep anyway, because duty-time regulations count hours off, not hours actually spent recovering

On January 25, 2024, a Batik Air Airbus A320 leveled off at 36,000 feet on a domestic route from Kendari to Jakarta, carrying 153 passengers and four flight attendants. For 28 minutes, air traffic controllers radioed the cockpit and got no answer. Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee later confirmed why, in an investigation reported by…