Both pilots on Ethiopian Airlines flight fall asleep, miss landing
Both pilots flying a Boeing 737 for Ethiopian Airlines fell asleep at the controls and missed their landing Monday — before being jolted awake by an alarm when the autopilot disconnected.
Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET343 was supposed to touch down at 6:20 a.m. in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, after a two-hour flight from Khartoum, Sudan, the Aviation Herald reported.
However, air traffic control in Ethiopia’s capital noticed that instead of descending for the final approach, the jet — which has a 154-seat capacity — remained at a cruising altitude of 37,000 feet.
Controllers made multiple attempts to contact the pilots, but to no avail.
![A Ethiopian Airlines flight overshot a runway on Aug. 15 after both of the plane's pilots fell asleep at the controls.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/ethiopian-airlines-asleep-miss-airport-approach-feat-image.jpg?w=1024)
![Ethiopian Airlines plane.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/ethiopian-airlines-asleep-miss-airport-approach-01.jpg?w=1024)
After the plane overshot the runway without descending, the autopilot on board disconnected, triggering an alarm that woke the drowsy aviators, according to the Herald.
The reinvigorated pilots then made a loop and approached the runaway again, this time landing the aircraft safely 25 minutes later, as shown by Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast data.
Ethiopia’s news outlet Fana reported that both pilots have been suspended pending an investigation into the incident.
Aviation analyst Alex Macheras called the in-flight nap “deeply concerning” and blamed “pilot fatigue.”
“Pilot fatigue is nothing new, and continues to pose one of the most significant threats to air safety — internationally,” he tweeted.
In May, the Italian news outlet La Repubblica reported that a pilot working for the state-operated airline ITA had been fired for allegedly falling asleep during a trans-Atlantic flight from New York to Rome.