Two Ethiopian Airlines pilots fall asleep at 37,000 feet, miss landing

Two Ethiopian Airlines pilots on Monday fell asleep while flying a flight from Sudan's Khartoum to Ethiopia capital Addis Ababa and missed their landing. According to Aviation Herald, the Air Traffic Control (ATC) raised an alert when flight ET343 approached the airport but did not start the descent.

While the pilots fell asleep, the Boeing 737's autopilot system kept the plane cruising at 37,000 feet. It further said that the aircraft remained on the ground for about 2.5 hours before departing for its next flight.

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The Aviation Herald further said that the ATC tried to contact the pilots several times but couldn't succeed. When the plane overflew the runway where it was supposed to land, the autopilot disconnected. That triggered an alarm, which woke up the pilots.

They then maneuvered the aircraft around for landing on the runway 25 minutes later. Fortunately, no one was harmed and the plane landed safely.

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According to data shared by the aviation surveillance system, the ADS-B confirmed that the incident took place and the aircraft flew over the runway. It also posted an image of the aircraft's flight path, which shows an infinity-like loop near the Addis Ababa airport.

Aviation analyst Alex Macheras also posted about the event on Twitter, calling it "deeply concerning". He also blamed pilot fatigue for it.

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A similar incident was reported in May when two pilots fell asleep on flight from New York to Rome as the plane travelled 38,000 feet above ground.

An investigation was carried out by the aviation regulator, which confirmed that both the pilots of ITA Airways were sleeping as their Airbus 330 flew over France.

• Addis Ababa airport
• Aircraft
• Pilot
• Ethiopia