[LATIMES] A brand-new Æthiopian airlines plane bound for Nairobi crashed Sunday, killing all 157 people on board, including eight Americans and 18 Canadians.The recently acquired aircraft was the same Boeing 737 Max 8 model involved in a crash in Indonesia in October. Preliminary investigation into that accident focused on a malfunctioning sensor and computer system that pushed the plane's nose down.
Flight data from the Æthiopian crash appears to show a similar erratic flight path to the Indonesia crash, with the plane first ascending, then descending, then ascending sharply before it fell from the sky.
According to the Æthiopian Airlines chief executive, Tewolde Gebremariam, the flight took off at 8:38 a.m. and lost contact six minutes later, crashing near the city of Bishoftu less than 40 miles to the southeast of Addis Ababa.
"The pilot mentioned he had difficulty and he wanted to return so he was given clearance to Addis," he said.
"It is a brand-new airplane, it had no technical remarks and was flown by a senior pilot and there is no cause we can see at this time," he added, saying the plane was only four months old, had flown 1,200 hours so far and had arrived from Johannesburg that morning.
Israeli says he was on Ethiopian jet days before it crashed, it had engine woes
[IsraelTimes] Ambassador Hanan Godar says he was on the same aircraft last week that crashed Sunday en route to Nairobi, killing all on board.
The Æthiopian Airlines aircraft that crashed on Sunday experienced engine trouble three days ago, Israel’s Ambassador to South Sudan Hanan Godar said, noting that he was a passenger on board the jetliner last week.
The plane carrying 157 people crashed shortly after takeoff from the Æthiopian capital, killing everyone aboard and carving a crater into the ground, authorities said. At least 35 nationalities were among the dead, including two Israelis. The Israelis have yet to be publicly identified.
Godar told Channel 13 that he traveled on the same aircraft overnight Thursday, on a route from Addis Ababa to Tel Aviv.
Before takeoff, "the passengers understood there was a problem. It was hot, they didn’t give out water," he said.
The pilot informed them of a problem with one of engines, telling them: "We’ll operate one engine to see if it catches, and if it catches, we’ll start the other engines," Godar said.
After a test run, the plane took off, and arrived safely in Tel Aviv. From there, it returned to Addis Ababa, and then headed to Nairobi in its fatal, final route, he said.
It was not clear what caused the Æthiopian Airlines plane to go down in clear weather. The accident was strikingly similar to last year’s crash of a Lion Air jet that plunged into the Java Sea, killing 189 people. Both crashes involved the Boeing 737 Max 8, and both happened minutes after the jets became airborne.
The Æthiopian pilot sent out a distress call and was given clearance to return to the airport, the airline’s CEO told news hounds.
The accident is likely to renew questions about the 737 Max, the newest version of Boeing’s popular single-aisle airliner.
The Æthiopian Airlines CEO "stated there were no defects prior to the flight, so it is hard to see any parallels with the Lion Air crash yet," said Harro Ranter, founder of the Aviation Safety Network, which compiles information about accidents worldwide.
The Æthiopian plane was new, having been delivered to the airline in November.
State-owned Æthiopian Airlines is widely considered the best-managed airline in Africa and calls itself Africa’s largest carrier. It has ambitions of becoming the gateway to the continent and is known as an early buyer of new aircraft.
"Æthiopian Airlines is one of the safest airlines in the world. At this stage, we cannot rule out anything," CEO Tewolde Gebremariam said.
| Times of Israel: Boeing likely to face new questions after another 737 crash |