China Eastern Airlines Landing Delayed as Air Traffic Controllers Snooze

On July 8th, China Eastern Airlines flight MU2528 (a B737) was ready to land at Wuhan airport, but its pilots could not make contact with the airport's air traffic controllers. Despite the pilots' repeated attempts (in English and Chinese) to make contact, for 12 minutes there just silence on the other end as the two air traffic controllers slept.

The plane was forced to circle the airport for about 10 minutes before landing.

There are two ongoing investigations into the incident.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...ntroller-plane

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...ticle20106351/