Ethiopian Airlines Pilots Fall Asleep At 37,000 Feet, Miss Landing
Suppose you’re on a plane flying at the height of 37,000 feet & both of your pilots fall asleep. Feeling scared? This actually happened in an Ethiopian Airlines airplane.
Two Ethiopian Airlines flight ET343 pilots made a frightening mistake when they were flying from Sudan’s Khartoum to Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa when they both passed out and missed their landing.
According to Aviation Herald, the incident happened on Monday, and when the plane reached the airport but did not begin to descend, Air Traffic Control (ATC) sounded an alarm.
Autopilot & Alarm System In The Flight
The Boeing 737’s autopilot system reportedly kept the aircraft flying at 37,000 feet as the pilots dozed off. The ATC made numerous fruitless attempts to get in touch with the pilots.
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When the aircraft passed above the runway where it was intended to land, the autopilot was disengaged. Aviation Herald claims that this set off an alarm, waking the pilots.
Plane Landed Safely After 25 Minutes
According to accounts, nobody was injured in the incident, and 25 minutes after the jet was back onto the runway, it safely touched down.
They claimed that the occurrence was verified by data from the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) aviation surveillance system.
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It has published a picture of the plane’s flight path, which depicts an infinite circle close to the airport in Addis Ababa.
Deeply Concerning Event: Aviation Analyst
Alex Macheras, an aviation analyst, described the incident as “deeply concerning.” He also attributed it to pilot tiredness.
A similar occurrence occurred in May when two pilots slept off during a flight from New York to Rome at an altitude of 38,000 feet. The event was confirmed following an investigation by the aviation authorities.
Aviation Analyst’s Tweet About The Incident
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
— Alex Macheras (@AlexInAir) August 18, 2022
Why hadn’t it started to descend for landing? Both pilots were asleep. https://t.co/cPPMsVHIJD pic.twitter.com/RpnxsdtRBf
