Ethiopian Airlines Removes Crew Who Allegedly Fell Asleep On Air, Pending Further Investigation

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.

Source: www.africantraveltimes.com