Posted on 03/10/2019 4:58:12 AM PDT by csvset
NAIROBI (Reuters) - An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 passenger jet to Nairobi crashed early on Sunday with 149 passengers and eight crew members aboard, the airline said, and there were no survivors, according to the state broadcaster.
The flight left Bole airport in Addis Ababa at 8.38 am local time, before losing contact with the control tower just a few minutes later at 8.44 am.
“There are no survivors onboard the flight, which carried passengers from 33 countries,” said state-run Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation, quoting an unidentified source at the airline.
Flight ET 302 crashed near the town of Bishoftu, 62 kilometres southeast of the capital Addis Ababa, the airline said, adding that the plane was a Boeing 737-800 MAX, registration number ET-AVJ.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Poor maintenance or a Kaboom?
Did they ever find out what went wrong with the LION Air crash that also used the same plane? Like that one, this one also had weird speed readings.
Ethiopian has a good safety record. This is the second catastrophic accident involving the 737MAX in six months. Could there be something wrong with the design?
My wife is scheduled to be on a flight between those two cities in about 2 weeks
737-800 MAX
The investigation into the LION crash is still ongoing but the early reports certainly indicated a possible design flaw.
From Wiki:
On 5 November, the NTSC announced that Flight 610 was still intact when it crashed into the sea and struck at high speed, citing the relatively small size of the pieces of debris. The impact was so powerful that the strongest part of the aircraft was obliterated. The NTSC also stated that the engines of Flight 610 were still running when it crashed into the sea, indicated by the high RPM. Further examination on the aircraft’s instruments revealed that one of the aircraft’s airspeed indicators had malfunctioned for its last four flights.
On 7 November, the NTSC confirmed that there had been problems with Flight 610’s angle of attack (AoA) sensors. The aircraft suffered an airspeed indicator problem for its last four flights, including the flight to Denpasar. Thinking that it would fix the problem, the engineers in Bali then replaced one of the aircraft’s AoA sensors, but the problem persisted on the penultimate flight, from Denpasar to Jakarta. Just minutes after takeoff, the aircraft abruptly dived. The crew of that flight, however, had managed to control the aircraft and decided to fly at a lower than normal altitude. They then managed to land the aircraft safely and recorded a twenty-degree difference between the readings of the left AoA sensor and the right sensor. NTSC chief Soerjanto Tjahjono told the press that future reporting or actions, enacted to prevent similar problems on similar aircraft, would be decided by Boeing and US aviation authorities.
Its always possible, but I tend to be wary of blaming a planes design absent evidence. The DC-10 got an unearned bad reputation due to media speculation in the late ‘70s.
Software
Mechanic empties his pockets upon returning home and wonders “Why do I have these nuts and bolts?”
Traveling from $h!thole to $h!thole…you take your chances.
An engine fell off during take off. Is that media speculation?
This was a modern American aircraft flying in good weather.
I agree. The DC-10 earned its bad reputation.
Where are the “If it aint Boeing I aint going” crowd?
Ephiopia is quite OK comparing to most of the rest of Africa.
Isn’t there some weird situation with the Addis Ababa altitude....like it’s 7,000 above sea level?
Kaboom ...
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