The National Transportation Safety Board said a go! Airlines captain who fell asleep on a Hawaii flight admitted to taking weekly naps while in the air. The board's report said the 53-year-old captain and his 23-year-old first officer told investigators they had fallen asleep while the autopilot was running Feb. 13 on Flight 1002, which was carrying 40 passengers from Honolulu to Hilo, Hawaii, causing the plane to overshoot its destination, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported Friday.
However, the report said the captain initially concealed the sleeping from air traffic controllers, saying: "We must have missed a hand-off or missed a call or something."
The captain told investigators that he has never accidentally fallen asleep behind the wheel of a plane before, but he would take 20 minute naps in the cockpit during flights about once a week.
The captain and the first officer were both fired after the incident.