When a Boeing 737-800 failed to descend over Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport, air traffic controllers received no response from the cockpit. Ethiopian Airlines flight ET343 held its cruising altitude of 37,000 feet and ignored repeated calls from the ground. For more than 25 minutes, the cockpit stayed silent as the jet circled above its destination, raising immediate questions about the crew’s alertness and the airline’s safety procedures.
Flight data from Flightradar24 shows the aircraft left Khartoum at 01:26 UTC on August 15, 2022, and reached Addis Ababa at 02:51 UTC. Rather than begin its descent, the plane continued on autopilot and passed directly over the airport. The pilots reportedly responded only after the autopilot disengaged and a cockpit alarm sounded. They reestablished contact and prepared for a safe landing at 03:16 UTC.
In late August 2026, Ethiopian Airlines announced a new cargo flight between Chengdu and Addis Ababa, confirming its status as Africa’s largest airline.
Initial reports suggested both pilots were asleep at the controls and woke only when the alarm sounded. Ethiopian Airlines has not confirmed this. In a statement days after the incident, the airline acknowledged a temporary loss of communication but did not say whether crew fatigue or inattention played a role. The company said the flight landed safely and the crew was suspended pending an internal investigation.
The lack of cockpit response created a clear risk. The aircraft remained stable on autopilot, but the absence of human oversight during a critical phase of flight, especially above a busy international airport, raises serious operational concerns. The airline has not said how many passengers were on board, and official findings from the investigation have not been released.
Fatigue among commercial pilots is a known hazard. A scientific review in Frontiers in Physiology found that between 68% and 91% of airline pilots have reported feeling fatigued on the job. The incident occurred just before 6 a.m. local time, during the hours when people are most prone to sleepiness, as the International Civil Aviation Organization recognizes. Still, without the results of the airline’s inquiry, it is impossible to say for certain that fatigue caused the silence in the cockpit.
In Europe, EASA rules allow controlled rest for pilots in the cockpit, but only under strict conditions: no more than 45 minutes, with actual sleep limited to 30 minutes and followed by a mandatory recovery period. The rules reflect the view that crew fatigue is a manageable yet serious flight-safety risk.
Ethiopian Airlines has not addressed the basic question: whether both pilots were asleep. Such silence is common in an industry where crew exhaustion is often downplayed. The lack of transparency does little to reassure passengers or regulators, especially when the available evidence points to a lapse in cockpit vigilance. Until the full investigation is released, the incident shows how human factors can threaten flight safety even with modern technology. The airline’s limited response leaves open questions about how it handles fatigue and safety culture.
