For the second time in less than six months, a brand-new Boeing aircraft has crashed just minutes into a flight.
Are There Problems With the Boeing 737 Max? A Second Deadly Crash Raises New Questions …
Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302, a Boeing 737 MAX 8, crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa-Bole Airport, Ethiopia. There were no survivors among the 157 occupants.
The Boeing 737 Max 8 was first delivered to Ethiopian Airlines last year. The catastrophe on Sunday was the second time in less than six months that the plane model has crashed.
The aircraft took off from runway 07R at Bole Airport at 05:38 UTC (08:38 local time). The airline reports that contact was lost at 08:44 local time.
In a press conference the CEO of Ethiopian Airlines stated that the pilot reported difficulties with the aircraft to ATC. He was given clearance to return to the airport.
Weather at the time of the accident was fine with a visibility of 10+ km, few clouds at 2500 feet.
What s Happening in the air ? Increasing Competition between Airbus and Boeing and moreover the increasing number of Airlines .. Guessing that the problem is getting complicated.
When an airplane carrying at least 150 people crashed in Ethiopia on Sunday, killing all aboard, it was the second time in less than six months that this particular plane model was involved in a catastrophic accident.
The plane, a Boeing 737 Max 8, was the same model that crashed in Indonesia in October, killing 189 people.
In both cases, brand-new planes faltered minutes after takeoff and plunged into a deadly descent, leaving no survivors.
The investigation into both cases is continuing, but the latest crash renewed questions about the safety of the 737 Max, which Boeing unveiled in 2017 and sold as a fuel-efficient, technologically advanced upgrade to its popular 737.
What is the Boeing 737 Max?
It is the latest generation of the Boeing 737, a kind of aircraft that’s been flying since the 1960s. There are four kinds of Maxes in the fleet, numbered 7, 8, 9 and 10. The 8 series, which was involved in the crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, has been flying the longest.
What is known after the crash in Indonesia?
It was too soon to tell on Sunday whether the causes of the Ethiopian Airlines crash were the same as or similar to those of the Lion Air crash in Indonesia last year.
But there are some initial similarities: On Sunday, the flight lost contact about six minutes after takeoff. The pilot had been given clearance to return to the airport in Addis Ababa, according to Ethiopian Airlines, which operated the flight. But the plane went down near Bishoftu, about 35 miles southeast of Addis Ababa.
The crash last year also involved a plane that went down minutes after takeoff and after the crew requested permission to return to the airport.
In that case, investigations by the Indonesian and American aviation authorities determined that the Lion Air plane’s abrupt nose dive might have been caused by updated Boeing software that was meant to prevent a stall but that can send the plane into a fatal descent if the altitude and angle information being fed into the computer system is incorrect.
The change in the flight control system, which can override manual motions in the Max model, was not explained to pilots, according to some pilots’ unions.
After that crash, Boeing said that it was continuing “to evaluate the need for software or other changes as we learn more from the ongoing investigation.” It was unclear if the company had made any changes.
In a statement on Sunday, Boeing said it was “deeply saddened” to learn of the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.
“A Boeing technical team is prepared to provide technical assistance at the request and under the direction of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board,” the company said.
