PILOTS on a passenger plane fell asleep mid-flight – and couldn’t be woken by air traffic controllers before landing.
But Ethiopian Airlines flight ET343, travelling from Khartoum in Sudan to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia on August 15, miraculously landed without any injuries.
The pilots fell asleep while the plane was on autopilot mode.
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 pilots eventually woke up and landed the plane on its second approach, the Aviation Herald said.
The Ethiopian Airlines crew have been put on leave pending investigation, state-run news outlet Fana reported.
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,” read 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.
The BBC has contacted Ethiopian Airlines for comment.
In April, a similar incident happened on a flight from New York to Rome.
Some 250 passengers were on board the plane at the time, ABC7Eyewitness News reports.
According to an investigation, both pilots of the ITA Airways flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport were sleeping during the journey.
They were asleep as the Airbus 330 flew over France, cruising at 38,000ft.
One of the pilots was sleeping during his break – but the captain had also fallen asleep, it was found.
Air traffic controllers reportedly lost contact with the plane for around 10 minutes – and feared there had been a terrorist incident onboard.
But as officials prepared to scramble fighter jets, the pilots eventually responded to air traffic control.
