There are people who sleep anywhere. Just stop and go to sleep. He even snores on the plane, especially on longer journeys. This is a very common situation among passengers. But not with the pilots! And this is exactly what happened on an Ethiopian Airlines flight in Africa: The two pilots were asleep and passed the point where they were supposed to land.
Boeing 737800 flight departed Khartoum, Sudan for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The drive took about 2 hours and everything was under control with the autopilot engaged. But when it was time for the plane to descend, nothing happened the Boeing was still high, at 11,000 meters.
Air traffic control officials radioed the pilots to no avail (the sleep must have been deep!). At that moment, the autopilot cutoff alarm, programmed to work until arrival at the airport, sounded. When the plane passed the descent point, the alarm went off!
The noise eventually woke the pilots, who regained control and eventually landed 25 minutes after overflighting the airport.
After two and a half hours on the ground, the same plane flew on another flight. We just hope it was with other pilots who were rested and not sleeping.
*With information from The Aviation Herald and FlightRadar24 websites.
Has anyone heard anything similar? I hope that on my next flight the pilot will be relaxed about his work so as not to scare the passengers.