‘Ethiopian Airlines Pilots Overshot The Runway After Falling Asleep During The Flight’
An aviation publication reports that two pilots fell asleep at an altitude of 37,000ft (11,000m) and missed the runway at the airport before waking up to safely land the plane.
After they overshot the point of descent when they were flying into Ethiopia’s Addis Ababa airport, air traffic tried to contact them.
According to the Aviation Herald, the pilots were eventually able to regain consciousness and land the plane on its second approach.
It has been reported that the Ethiopian Airlines crew has been placed on leave pending an investigation, according to state-run news outlet Fana.
Sudan’s Khartoum airport was the departure point for Monday’s passenger flight.
As a Boeing 737 with 154 seats, it usually takes less than two hours for the plane to travel from one country to another on the route between the two countries.
Sleeping on the job caused a wide range of reactions from sympathy with the pilot’s work schedule to shock that he or she fell asleep in the middle of the day.
According to one comment on the Aviation Herald website, “I would not point the finger at the Ethiopian crew specifically here – this is something that could happen to ANY crew in the world and it probably did happen. The blame lies on the corporation and the regulators.”
‘Ethiopian Airlines Pilots Overshot The Runway After Falling Asleep During The Flight’
It was suggested by another user that there was only one solution: “Termination. End of story. Full stop.”.
As some saw the funny side of the story, they commented on Twitter, “Sleeping on the job taken to new heights!”.
The incident was described as “deeply concerning” on Twitter by an aviation analyst.
There is no doubt that pilot fatigue is nothing new, and continues to pose one of the greatest threats to the safety of aircraft, both domestically and internationally,” tweeted aviation analyst Alex Macheras on Twitter.