Ethiopian Airlines pilots ‘overshoot runway after falling asleep’

AIRPLANE

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.

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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.

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