Two pilots flying a plane from Sudan to Ethiopia drowsed off and missed their landing when the aircraft was 37,000 feet above sea level.
The incident happened on Monday, August 15, and the pilots successfully landed the plane safely without any casualties being reported, according to The Aviation Herald.
The two pilots have been suspended by Ethiopian Airlines following the incident that they fell asleep mid-flight and missed their landing.
The Aviation Herald report added that 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 apparently maintained 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.
The ATC made repeated attempts to get in touch with the pilots but was unsuccessful. The autopilot disconnected as soon as the aircraft crossed the landing strip, w hich set off an alert, according to Aviation Herald, woken up up the pilots.
They then maneuvered the aircraft around for landing on the runway 25 minutes later and fortunately no one was harmed, the outlet further said.
Aviation analyst Alex Macheras tweeted about the incident, and shared the loop image, calling it “deeply concerning”.
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
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