Outrage as Pilot Goes to Sleep During Flight Leaving a Trainee in Charge of the Jet (Photos)

A pilot identified as Captain Amir Akhtar Hashmi, has been caught sleeping on a London-bound passenger plane he should have been controlling.

Curled up under a blanket in a business class seat, shocked travellers found Captain Amir Akhtar Hashmi catching z's - leaving an inexperienced trainee at the helm.

According to The Sun UK, Pakistan International Airlines have suspended the senior airman after the shocking photos emerged on social media.

A passenger on flight PK-785 from Islamabad to London on April 26 filed a complaint with the airline along with the snap of the dozing captain.

Hashmi should have been in control of the 305-seater Boeing 777 plane during the eight hour flight to Heathrow.

But he is thought to have handed the reins to a rookie soon after takeoff.

And rather than it being a quick nap, he is reported to have dozed for over two hours, according to India Times.

An airline source told Pakistani newspaper Dawn that bosses had tried to put off an inquiry but had to "succumb to pressure" from government officials after the photo was shared online.

The Sun has approached PIA for comment.

It comes after recent investigations found the pilot of a doomed Air France plane that came down near Brazil in June 2009 had been asleep while junior pilots were at the controls.

All 228 people on board were killed when Captain Marc Dubois left the cockpit to go for a nap.

Less than an hour later the plane crashed into the ocean after flying through a thunderstorm.