Two Ethiopian Airlines pilots sleep during flight, overfly airport: Suspended
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Then what saved the day for the passengers? After the plane overflew the
destination airport at height and full speed without descent, the autopilot
disconnected! And the disconnect wailer woke up the pilots! Thereupon they
scrambled to manoeuvre the flight back for another approach to the airport and
it landed 25 minutes later than scheduled, safely at their allotted runway 25L.
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CAIRO, Aug 20: The Ethiopian Airlines has confirmed that its pilots slept during
a flight to Addis Ababa from Khartoum on Monday. The Boeing 737-800 was flying
at a height of 37,000 feet when both the pilots fell asleep and missed the destination
and overflew the airport.
On Saturday, confirming the incident in a statement, the Ethiopian Airlines
said that both pilots have been suspended pending further investigation and
removed from the roster.
"When the pilots fell asleep ... the aircraft continued past the top of descent"
as the flight was on autopilot, Aviation Herald reported. The air traffic control
could not establish contact with the pilots despite several attempts as they
were fast asleep.
Then what saved the day for the passengers? After the plane overflew the destination
airport at height and full speed without descent, the autopilot disconnected!
And the disconnect wailer woke up the pilots! Thereupon they scrambled to manoeuvre
the flight back for another approach to the airport and it landed 25 minutes
later than scheduled, safely at their allotted runway 25L
"We have received a report which indicates Ethiopian flight number ET343 en
route from Khartoum to Addis Ababa temporarily lost communication with Addis
Ababa Air Traffic Control on 15 August 2022," an Ethiopian Airlines statement
said on Friday.
"The flight later landed safely after communication was restored. The concerned
crew have been removed from operation pending further investigation. 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," it said.
Aviation experts tweeted that "pilot exhaustion" could have caused the incident.
Of late there has been a spike in the incidence of pilot fatigue around the
world which can be a major safety issue.
It has also been commented that "the pilots may get stress due to frequent
flight without enough rest. The pilots' final control of the aircraft is admirable."
Some say the Ethiopian Airlines has a reputation.
Recently an Italian Flying Pilot was sacked after "falling asleep" during a
flight from New York to Rome. The co-pilot was taking an "authorized rest."
All about Ethiopian Airlines' Addis Ababa Boeing crash
Incidentally, it was again the Ethiopian Airlines' Boeing 737 MAX that met
with one of the worst aviation tragedies in the world in 2019 near Addis Ababa.
But the glitch has been traced to the MAX model introduced in 2017 with larger
CFM LEAP engines that did not sync fully with the MCAS (Monoeuvring Characteristics
Augmentation System) (which failed in the crash) that swivels the horizontal
tail to move the nose. The faulty MCAS pushed the plane's nose down, leaving
pilots unable to regain control, leading to the accident. May be the pilots
were in the dark about MCAS as with the FAA's knowledge it was not included
in the manual. The more they pushed it up, the more it went down. In the new
model the wings, fuselage and the main landing gear were also sought to be strengthened
to carry those heavier engines, but it did not work well. After a 20-month grounding
and modification, MAX is now reborn 737 8. India is buying the maximum number
of this new avatar.
In the earlier Lion Air crash of 737 MAX also the MCAS was found to be a key
contributing factor.
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SELECTIONS FROM OUR ARCHIVES |
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Top Govt officer thrashed, kicked inside Bhubaneswar office: Incident sparks a debate
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The incident has triggered a debate on social media whether the officer refused to take orders from a party leader or he was accused of any corruption, some netizens justifying the handling in either case, that Ratnakar was blocking public welfare work! It is true the Govt machinery has been the enemy Number One of the people of this country, existing for itself and for these politicians, for well over seven decades. India will never make an inch of progress - real progress, not make-believe-progress - unless and until this machinery is eliminated.
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UK's House of Commons votes to legalise assisted dying: What it means | |
ANALYSIS: There have been cases of Britons going to Switzerland to get rid of a miserable life. Now once the House of Lords also passes the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, terminally ill Britons can call it quits with the help of a medical practitioner here itself. But the measure when comes into practice, will have very serious social consequences, it is feared. There won't be comparisons, even as tropes in Latin American folklores. The worst case scenario is of those who are not terminally ill also trying to misuse the provision to leave this world early when life with dignity is not available. But that is, in fact, a political question and not a moral imbroglio!
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What caused Air India Boeing 787 crash? Some questions, some answers | |
The CCTV footage and the video circulating on social media do not indicate any serious abnormalities in takeoff or descent, it has been confirmed. The disaster is becoming curiouser and curiouser. The flight path was not curvy. And the aircraft maintained a steady, gliding descent with its nose straight and the wings perfectly level. The pilot's distress call does not specify what prevented lift and climb-out. Here are some expert opinions. The sole purpose is to raise travellers' awareness about air travel.
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Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line brings Kashmir Valley on India's rail map |
- The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line provides Kashmir with all-weather connectivity and integrates the Valley with the rest of India.
- The saying 'Kashmir to Kanyakumari' is now a dream come true.
- The Chenab bridge on the line, an engineering marvel, is the world's highest
railway bridge, taller than the Eiffel Tower. (Video: File)
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Work done, Elon Musk steps down from DOGE, leaves White House | |
Musk wrote: "My scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end... The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." Now on it will be on auto-pilot.
PROGNOSIS: DOGE was prematurely born to protect the country by aborting an impending socio-economic disaster which very few people could see coming.
Although its immediate job was to save American taxpayers billions by slashing waste, eliminating fraud, cutting Government bloat and ensuring utmost efficiency in administration for the good of the people.
(Today's headlines )
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Ailing Asiatic lion Pataudi too dies of bird flu at Kanpur zoo
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Originally from Junagadh, Gujarat, Pataudi was relocated to Etawah Lion Safari in September 2019 before being transferred to Gorakhpur Zoo in 2021. Recently it was receiving treatment for pancreatic and liver infections. After tigress Shakti died in the zoo on May 7 due to bird flu, Pataudi was shifted to Kanpur. Some birds are also reported to have died mysteriously around Gorakhpur. All zoos in UP are closed for fear of a bird flu outbreak.
Three other animals too had died - a tiger, a leopardess and a female wolf. Wolf Bhairavi died last Saturday, leopardess Mona died the Thursday before that and tiger Kesari died on March 30. Some of them had Shakti's symptoms but the cause of death has not been confirmed yet.
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48 tourist destinations closed in Kashmir following Pahalgam terror attack
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As tourist inflow is an indicator of normalcy returning to an erstwhile terrorist infested Valley, the Government has been trying hard to make everything travel-friendly, launching lot many projects and bringing Kashmir on the national rail map that physically completes the process of Kashmir's integration with the rest of India. And that defeats the designs of Pakistan eyeing Kashmir and simply explains a recrudescence of terrorism in J&K.
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Trump slaps ‘kind’, ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on trading partners; a 'lenient' 26% on India!
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ANALYSIS: There is a lot of hue and cry around the world over Trump's tariffs. But tariff, simply put, is a tax. But unlike tax, it affects the exporting country too. Domestic prices will go up for some time. Nothing more will happen, good or bad!
What motivated Trump's newfound policy, apart from being a stunt to justify his existence in the White House, is a false realisation that increased tariff will make foreign goods prohibitive, thereby boosting local production, and create more jobs, and more prosperity will ring in! If that is true, India would have been shining by now: Producing own Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail and Scotch Whiskies! And what about coconut and palm oil by America!
(Today's headlines )
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Trump signs order to shut Education Dept - And the contrast with India
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PROGNOSIS: It looks a Real New Trump is emerging - courageous, balanced, powerful and disinterested. Determined to save his country from the cliff, he has done quite a few draconian things that will reduce the burden of debts of the Federal entity, like the golden handshake, stopping senseless funding, pulling out of a worthless WHO. Shutting the Education Department is another. On the other hand, running it is also not the Centre's job either (We will convincingly elaborate it in the next chapter).
In India the scene is just the opposite. Centralisation is the core agenda and identity of the ruling dispensation without which it has no existence, or in other words, it exists for that set of schemes only. A realisation of this never dawned upon any Opposition party in 2014 or any time thereafter, what to talk of being able to see it coming 70 years ago! The consequence of all this violation of basic natural law of the universe we cannot predict.
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Sunita, Wilmore's Dragon splashes down in Gulf: What delayed their return? |
THE AMERICAN CONUNDRUM: Political venom has migrated to top echelons in the US. It was reported last year NASA has become politicised, vitiated. But NASA refuted the charge. How Boeing developed a glitch but its unmanned return was smooth. When Suni-Wilmore were stranded last June, why the return was set for February? Because that comes only after January 20! SpaceX called the shots, for itself and for Trump. Then the mission was manipulated for March for a better bargain! In between, what made Elon Musk 'predict' during campaign if Kamala Harris wins he would be in jail. In politics, it is said, "the only rule is there are no rules." Difficult times for Americans too.
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All 80k health workers in US offered $25,000 voluntary buyout: Administering wrong prescriptions!
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The terminations are part of a large-scale exercise going on all across Fed departments and organisations to reduce wasteful Government expenditure as decided by a Trump in a mess gone berserk, and improve administrative efficiency following the whims of billionaire and his associate Elon MusK and his DOGE. It has not been shared how terminations are going to raise the efficiency bar! It looks like Trump has stolen some of the prescriptions meant for India. But the American problems are quite different.
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