What happened when pilots fell asleep at 37,000 feet and missed landing?

Two pilots of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-800, flying from Khartoum (Sudan) to Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) fell asleep and “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,” reported The Aviation Herald. “After overflying runway 25L at FL370, the autopilot disconnected, and 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,” it further said. The incident took place on 15 August. While Air Traffic Control tried to contact the plane’s crew, the aircraft’s autopilot system kept it cruising at 37,000ft. The pilots woke up when the disconnect wailer rang loudly after being disconnected from the autopilot once the plane flew over the runway where it was supposed to land. The pilots landed the plane 25 minutes later. The plane stayed on the runway for around two and a half hours before it departed for its next flight. Aviation analysts have raised the alarm after the incident and said it reflected how overworked and fatigued pilots are. Aviation analyst Alex Macheras described the event as “deeply concerning”.

Deeply concerning incident at Africa’s largest airline — Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 #ET343 was still at cruising altitude of 37,000ft by the time it reached destination Addis Ababa

Why hadn’t it started to descend for landing? Both pilots were asleep. https://t.co/cPPMsVHIJD pic.twitter.com/RpnxsdtRBf

— Alex Macheras (@AlexInAir) August 18, 2022

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