Two Ethiopian Airlines pilots missed an airport runway after falling asleep at 37,000ft in the air.
The pilots could not land the plane at the first time of asking. The crew were finally woken up by the autopilot alarm before finally and safely landing the plane.
Air traffic reportedly tried to contact them after they overshot the point of descent into Ethiopia’s Addis Ababa airport, an aviation news outlet reported.
The Aviation Herald reported that Monday’s passenger flight took off from Sudan’s Khartoum airport.
The Boeing 737, with a 154-seat capacity, normally takes less than two hours on its route between the neighbouring countries.
The aircraft remained on the ground for about 2.5 hours before departing for its next flight, the publication reported.
Some aviation analysts have described the incident as concerning.
“Pilot fatigue is nothing new, and continues to pose one of the most significant threats to air safety – internationally,” tweeted aviation analyst, Alex Macheras.
Deeply concerning incident at Africa’s largest airline — Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 #ET343 was still at cruising altitude of 37,000ft by the time it reached destination Addis Ababa
Why hadn’t it started to descend for landing? Both pilots were asleep. https://t.co/cPPMsVHIJD pic.twitter.com/RpnxsdtRBf
— Alex Macheras (@AlexInAir) August 18, 2022
Source: Africafeeds.com
