An Ethiopian Airlines plane narrowly escaped disaster after two pilots fell asleep and skidded off the runway after landing, Aviation Herald reported.
And the website reported that the plane was en route from Sudan to the Ethiopian capital Addis last week and overshot the landing spot on arrival, waking the pilots to the sound of the alarm.
Airport controllers were surprised that the plane did not initiate descent on approach and that the autopilot system kept it at 37,000 feet.
Approximately 30 minutes later, the crew was awakened by an alarm and then maneuvered onto the runway for a safe landing.
Ethiopian Airlines has not confirmed the pilots fell asleep, but the airline said in a statement that the crew involved were suspended pending an investigation. The company announced that appropriate corrective measures will be taken based on the results of the investigations.
It was a passenger flight from Khartoum to Addis Ababa, a journey that took about two hours. It is not yet clear how many passengers were on board, but the Boeing 737-800 is designed to hold up to 189 passengers.
The 737-800 is an older model that Boeing has since tried to replace with the 737 Max 8, but that model crashed in 2019, killing 157 people on an Ethiopian Airlines flight.
Source: Lebanon Debate
