Ethiopian Airlines said it has “removed from operation pending further investigation,” its crew who were operating the flight number ET343 en route from Khartoum to Addis Abeba on 15 August, and that “appropriate corrective action will be taken based on the outcome of the investigation”.
According to a report on The Aviation Herald, “an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-800, registration ET-AOB performing flight ET-343 from Khartoum [Sudan] to Addis Ababa [Ethiopia], was enroute at FL370 when the pilots fell asleep. The aircraft continued past the top of descent maintaining FL370 and continued along the FMC route set up for an approach to runway 25L without descending however.
ATC tried to contact the crew numerous times without success. After overflying runway 25L at FL370 the autopilot disconnected, the disconnect wailer woke the crew up who then maneuvered the aircraft for a safe landing on runway 25L about 25 minutes after overflying the runway at FL370.”
In response, Ethiopian Airlines released the following statement:
“We have received a report which indicates Ethiopian flight number ET343 en route from Khartoum to Addis Ababa temporarily lost communication with Addis Ababa Air Traffic Control on 15 August 2022.
The flight later landed safely after communication was restored. The concerned Crew have been removed from operation pending further investigation. Appropriate corrective action will be taken based on the outcome of the investigation. Safety has always been and will continue to be our first priority.”
The pilots fell asleep while the plane was on autopilot mode according to some media report yesterday that the two pilots fell asleep at 37,000ft [11,000m], missing an airport runway before waking to safely land the plane, an aviation publication says.
Air traffic tried to contact them after they overshot the point of descent into Ethiopia’s Addis Ababa airport.
The Ethiopian Airlines crew were finally woken up by the autopilot alarm and landed the plane on the second approach, the Aviation Herald said.
Monday’s passenger flight took off from Sudan’s Khartoum airport.
The Boeing 737, with a 154-seat capacity, normally takes less than two hours on its route between the neighbouring countries.
Reactions to sleeping on the job ranged from sympathy with the pilots’ work schedule to shock that they fell asleep on the job.
“I wouldn’t cast blame on 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,” one comment on the Aviation Herald website.
Another user suggested that there was only one solution: “Termination. End of story. Full stop.”
Others saw the funny side of the story, comment on Twitter, “Sleeping on the job taken to new heights!”
An aviation analyst called the incident “deeply concerning” on Twitter.
“Pilot fatigue is nothing new, and continues to pose one of the most significant threats to air safety – internationally,” tweeted aviation analyst, Alex Macheras.
By Addis Standard [Addis Ababa] with additional report by Lucky Onoriode George [Lagos-Nigeria]
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