LONDON, Sept 27: More than half of Britain`s airline pilots have fallen asleep in the cockpit and a third have woken up to find their copilot asleep, according to a new survey.

The poll of 500 pilots commissioned by the British Airline Pilots` Association (Balpa) also found that 43 per cent believed tiredness had compromised their ability to fly a plane at least once a month for the last six months.

Some 56pc admitted they had fallen asleep during a flight and 29pc said they had woken up to find the other pilot had also dozed off, according to the ComRes poll.The survey comes after it emerged that both the captain and co-pilot of an Airbus A330 plane fell asleep at the same time while it was on autopilot during a flight by an unnamed British operator on Aug 13.

The Civil Aviation Authority said one of the pilots had reported that the pair had only five hours` sleep each for the previous two nights. Nearly half of the pilots questioned by Balpa 49pc identified tiredness as the biggest threat to flight safety, while a third said their airline`s culture discouraged them from reporting their tiredness.

Media reports said the airline involved in the August incident was Virgin Atlantic, but the company said: `No safety reports have been received about pilots falling asleep simultaneously whilst in control of an aircraft.

The survey comes ahead of a vote in the European parliament on Monday on proposals to set out maximum working hours for pilots and other airline staff.-AFP