Investigators have uncovered new evidence at the scene of the crashed Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737, in Ethiopia. Boeing has grounded the entire global fleet of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft.
Fresh evidence along with newly refined satellite data prompted Boeing to make the decision to ban the aircraft, said the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
On Sunday morning the flight ET 302 crashed six minutes after taking off from Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia killing all 157 on board.
Ethiopian Airlines wrote on Twitter, “An Ethiopian delegation led by Accident Investigation Bureau has flown the Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder to Paris, France for investigation.”
The FAA and the National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) have been investigating the disaster at the crash site in Ethiopia.
Dan Elwell, acting administrator at the FAA said on Wednesday, “It became clear to all parties that the track of the Ethiopian Airlines was very close and behaved very similarly to the Lion Air flight.”
He added, “the evidence we found on the ground made it even more likely the flight path was very close to Lion Air’s.”
According to Flightradar24, a flight tracking website said the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 “had an unstable vertical speed” after taking off.
Five months ago, another Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft owned by Lion Air, flight JT 610 crashed in to the ocean near to Indonesia killing all 189 people on board.
At the time, Boeing issued a warning to airlines using the 737 MAX 8 planes, as a sensor failure was to blame, and potentially the cause of the crash of flight JT 610.
The black box was investigated by Indonesian authorities and indicated the aircraft “experienced erroneous input from one of its AoA (Angle of Attack) sensors.”
Dennis Muilenburg, president, chief executive and chairman of Boeing said, “We are doing everything we can to understand the cause of the accidents in partnership with the investigators, deploy safety enhancements and help ensure this does not happen again.”
Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants CWA said, “Lives must come first always. But a brand is at stake as well. And that brand is not just Boeing.
“It’s America. What America means in international aviation and by extension in the larger world more generally, that we set the standard for safety, competence, and honesty in governance of aviation.”
Following the announcement Boeings shares were higher to $377 each however, the company’s market value has dropped by nearly $26bn since Sunday’s crash on Sunday.
Leave a Comment