Ethiopian Airlines suspends pilots for sleeping mid-air

Ethiopian Airlines Group suspended a plane crew pending an investigation after they lost communication with air-traffic control in Addis Ababa before later landing safely. The aircraft landed safely 25 minutes later after looping back toward the runway and stayed on the ground for about two-and-a-half hours before its next flight.

The flight was en route to the Ethiopian capital from Khartoum in neighboring Sudan, Africa’s largest airline said in a statement. Appropriate action will be taken against the aviators based on the outcome of the investigation.

The pilots had both fallen asleep, according to the Aviation Herald, and were only woken by a warning siren triggered when the autopilot disconnected. They were then able to return the plane to its correct flightpath.