Ethiopian Airlines plane misses landing after both pilots fall asleep

Ethiopian Airlines plane misses landing after both pilots fall asleep | Secret Flying

Both pilots fall asleep mid-flight.

 

An Ethiopian airlines plane flying from Sudan missed its landing after both pilots fell asleep in the cockpit.

 

Flight ET343 was travelling from Khartoum to Addis Ababa on Monday when the terrifying incident unfolded.

 

According to reports, after the plane missed the landing, Air Traffic Control tried to contact the plane’s crew while the aircraft’s autopilot system kept it cruising at 37,000ft.

 

When the plane flew over the runway, the autopilot was disconnected, and an alarm was triggered which reportedly woke up the crew.

 

The pilots then performed another approach, and touched down on runway 25L around 25 minutes later.

 

Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS–B) data obtained by The Aviation Herald confirmed that the aircraft continued to cruise at 37,000 feet before overflying the runway.

 

It is unclear how long the pilots were both asleep for.

 

 

Aviation analyst Alex Macheras tweeted: “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.”

 

Aviation analysts have raised the alarm after the incident and said it reflected how overworked and fatigued pilots are.