Two pilots are believed to have fallen asleep and missed their landing during a flight from Sudan to Ethiopia on Monday last, reports CNN.
The incident took place on August 15 when an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-800 was en route from Khartoum to Addis Ababa.
Data obtained by the commercial aviation news site Aviation Herald indicates that the aircraft was cruising at 37,000 feet on autopilot when it failed to descend at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, its scheduled destination.
Air traffic control was unable to reach the crew despite making several attempts at contact. However, an alarm was triggered when the plane overshot the runway and continued along the route.
Subsequently, the aircraft began to descend. However, it landed safely around 25 minutes later.
Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) data shows the aircraft overflying the runway, before beginning its descent and manoeuvring for another approach.
In a statement on Friday, Ethiopian Airlines said, "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 August 15."
The flight later landed safely after communication was restored. The concerned crews have been removed from operation pending further investigation, it added.
Aviation analysts like Alex Macheras were also shocked by the incident and expressed his shock on Thursday by twitting: "deeply concerning the incident," which he suggests may have been the result of pilot exhaustion.
The report comes just months after pilots at Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines warned airline executives that pilot exhaustion was on the rise and urged them to treat fatigue and the resulting mistakes as a safety risk.
Earlier in May this year, Italian newspaper Repubblica reported that an ITA pilot had been fired after "falling asleep" during a flight between New York and Rome.
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque/Golam Rosul
