Ethiopian Airlines suspends pilots who fell asleep during a flight

Aviación al Día

3 years ago

Ethiopian Airlines announced the suspension of two pilots who allegedly fell asleep during a flight last Monday between Khartoum (Sudan) and Addis Ababa.

As reported by The Aviation Herald, the pilots of the Boeing 737-800 fell asleep during the flight and only woke up when an autopilot disconnection alarm was triggered. The plane ended up landing 25 minutes later, flight data showed.

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“The crew in question has been withdrawn from operation pending further investigation,” the airline said in a statement.

“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 airline added.

‘Deeply worrying’

Aviation analyst Alex Macheras has taken to Twitter to express his surprise at the “deeply concerning incident”, which he suggests may have been the result of pilot exhaustion.

“Pilot fatigue is nothing new and continues to represent one of the most significant threats to aviation safety, internationally,” he tweeted Thursday.

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The report comes just months after pilots at Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines warned airline executives that pilot burnout was on the rise and urged them to treat fatigue and resulting errors as a safety risk. .

In May, the Italian newspaper Repubblica reported that an ITA pilot had been fired after “falling asleep” during a flight between New York and Rome.

The co-pilot was said to be taking an “authorized rest” at the time, causing the Airbus A330 to lose communication with air traffic control for ten minutes, according to the report.