Two pilots endangered passengers by falling asleep during a flight as they approached landing. As a result, the plane could not descend and had to postpone the landing. The incident happened on Monday (15th) on a flight from Sudan to Ethiopia.
According to The Independent newspaper, the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737800 was on a route from Khartoum to Addis Ababa. The plane was crossing on autopilot at 11,000 meters when it failed to begin its descent at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport.
Apparently air traffic control could not reach the crew, although they made several attempts to contact them. An alarm was raised as the plane overran the runway and took an unexpected route.
After the warning, the aircraft began its descent and landed safely approximately 25 minutes later.
Automatic dependent surveillance transmission data shows the aircraft flying over the runway before beginning a descent and maneuvering for another approach.
Deeply worrying incident at Africa’s largest airline Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 #ET343 was still at a cruising altitude of 37,000 feet when it reached destination Addis Ababa
Why hadn’t it started descending for a landing? Both pilots were asleep. https://t.co/cPPMsVHIJD pic.twitter.com/RpnxsdtRBf
Alex Macheras (@AlexInAir) August 18, 2022
Fatigue worries pilots
The cause of the incident has caused great concern among many professionals in the aviation industry. Analyst Alex Macheras expressed shock at the episode on Twitter and believes the problem stems from pilot exhaustion.
“Pilot fatigue is nothing new and continues to be one of the biggest threats to flight safety internationally,” he wrote.
A few months ago, pilots from Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines warned airline executives that pilot fatigue was an all too common problem. They called for inflight fatigue and its consequences to be viewed as a safety risk.
“Fatigue, both acute and cumulative, has become Southwest Airlines’ number one safety threat,” the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) said in a letter to airline executives in April.
According to the document, demand for air travel continues to rise as the sector begins to recover from the Covid19 pandemic. In addition, many flights were canceled due to bad weather. For these reasons, pilots suffer from fatigue during travel.
Cases similar to those experienced by Ethiopian Airlines pilots have occurred around the world. In May, an ITA pilot was fired after he “fell asleep” on a flight between New York and Rome, Italian newspaper Repubblica reported.
The authorities’ report indicated that the copilot took a “permitted break” at that point, causing the Airbus A330 to lose communication with air traffic control for ten minutes.