BFF-37 Ethiopian Airlines crash report due Monday: foreign ministry

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US-ETHIOPIA-AVIATION-ACCIDENT

Ethiopian Airlines crash report due Monday: foreign ministry

ADDIS ABABA, April 1, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A preliminary report from the fatal
crash of a Boeing 737 Max in which 157 people died in Ethiopia will be
released on Monday, the foreign ministry said.

“The Ethiopia Ministry of Transport will give a preliminary report into
its investigation of the ET 302 plane crash later on Monday,” said Nebiat
Getachew, Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman.

No details were provided about exactly when the report would be released,
or what it might contain.

The Boeing 737 MAX 8, operated by Ethiopian Airlines, crashed on March 10,
southeast of Addis Ababa.

Families in 35 nations were left bereaved when the plane went down just
minutes after takeoff from the highland capital on a flight south to
neighbouring Kenya, and nose-dived into a field.

A source with knowledge of the investigation has said an anti-stall
system, the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), was
activated shortly before the crash.

Boeing designed the MCAS system, which lowers the aircraft’s nose if it
detects a stall or loss of airspeed.

However, the same MCAS system was implicated in the October crash of a 737
MAX 8 airliner off Indonesia which left 189 people dead.

In the Indonesia crash, initial investigations found problems with the
MCAS system, when sensors of the plane’s flight details sent wrong
information.

The pilot had tried repeatedly to regain control and pull the nose up but
the plane smashed into the sea.

Aside from the tragedies of all the casualties, the two crashes have been
major blows to aviation giant Boeing, triggering the US manufacturer’s
biggest crisis in decades with the MAX 8 model grounded worldwide.

Ethiopian Airlines is Africa’s largest carrier and in many ways the
international face of the nation.

BSS/AFP/FI/ 1608 hrs