They fell asleep and missed the landing date.. Ethiopian Airlines grounds two pilots
Ethiopian Airlines has announced that it has stopped two pilots suspected of falling asleep and missing the landing of a flight from Khartoum to Addis Ababa.
The plane crossed the runway at Bole International Airport in the Ethiopian capital on Monday before returning and landing safely, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.
The Aviation Herald, which publishes reports on accidents in commercial flights, noted that the two pilots fell asleep during the flight and only woke up to an alarm that sounded when the autopilot mode was disconnected.
Flight data showed that the plane re-landed after 25 minutes.
Ethiopian Airlines indicated that the connection was temporarily lost between flight ET343 and the Air Traffic Control Authority, but it landed safely after the connection was restored.
And Ethiopian Airlines issued a statement saying that "the crew concerned has been suspended pending further investigations," without mentioning whether they slept during a period of the flight.
"Appropriate corrective action will be taken based on the outcome of the investigation," the statement added.
The journey between the Sudanese capital and the Ethiopian capital usually takes less than two hours.
Aviation analyst Alex Mackeras described the accident as "extremely worrying", attributing it to fatigue, which is a major aviation safety risk.
"Pilot fatigue is not new and remains one of the greatest risks to aviation safety internationally," he wrote on Twitter.
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