Both pilots of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 343, heading from Khartoum, Sudan to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia fell asleep at the controls, causing the flight to overshoot the landing pattern and forcing an alarm to blare in the cockpit to wake up the pilots, CBS News reports.
As the two-and-a-half hour flight approached Addis Ababa, air traffic control attempted to radio the cockpit multiple times, but did not receive any response. As the aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 with about 210 passengers onboard, hit the landing pattern, the auto pilot disengaged and sounded an alarm onboard.
By the time the pilots took control of the aircraft, it had missed the window to being its descent and had to circle around to reenter the pattern. No passengers were hurt in the incident. The airline does not acknowledge the pilots fell asleep and only acknowledges that the plane lose contact with the control tower.