Ethiopian Airlines has suspended the crew of a flight after both pilots allegedly fell asleep and missed their landing window in Addis Ababa.
The jet eventually landed safely, but experts said the incident highlighted concerns about pilot exhaustion on the airline, the largest air carrier in Africa.
According to reports, the two pilots were flying a Boeing 737 from Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, to Addis Ababa on Monday.
“After flying above [the runway],… the autopilot failed, the disconnect wailer awoke the crew, who then steered the aircraft for a safe landing,” the report revealed.
Ethiopian Airlines said Friday that the crew had 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 statement did not say whether the pilots had been sleeping.
Experts said the incident could have been a result of the airline overworking the pilots or other external factors.
Hassan Shahidi of the Flight Safety Foundation, an independent nonprofit organization, told journalists that pilot fatigue “would certainly be investigated in terms of exactly how many hours they were flying and potentially whether fatigue or scheduling may have played a role in this, but it is, at the end of the day, the responsibility of the crew if they are fatigued or if they are tired, to report that they’re tired.”
