Key piece of wreckage shows jet set to dive
Pilot asked to turn back just after takeoff
A screw-like device from the Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed last Sunday killing all 157 people aboard has provided investigators with a clue into what happened, as work begins in France to decode the black boxes recovered from the scene.
The so-called jackscrew, used to set the trim that raises and lowers the plane’s nose, indicates the jet was configured to dive, based on a preliminary review, according to a person familiar with the investigation who requested anonymity to discuss the inquiry.
France’s aviation safety agency, the Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis, received the cockpit voice and data recorders on Thursday for decoding, while investigators on the scene near Addis Ababa continue to sift through the plane’s wreckage.
It was the second fatal crash involving the airplane model in five months, bringing the total number of people killed to 346 and throwing Boeing into a crisis, raising questions about the future of its best-selling jet.
The New York Times reported the doomed Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 to Nairobi was in trouble almost immediately after takeoff as it lurched up and down by hundreds of feet at a time. The captain asked in a panicky voice to turn back only three minutes into the flight as the plane accelerated to abnormal speeds, the newspaper reported, citing a person who reviewed the jet’s air traffic communications.
“Break break, request back to home,” he told air traffic controllers as they scrambled to divert two other flights approaching the airport. The aircraft had accelerated far beyond what is considered standard practice. All contact between air controllers and the aircraft was lost five minutes after it took off, the report said.
An airline spokesman has said the pilot was given permission to return to the Addis Ababa airport. But the plane crashed minutes later.
French authorities have said it’s unclear what can be retrieved from the plane’s flight data and voice recorders. An Ethiopian delegation led by its chief accident investigator was in Paris.
Canada, the U.S. and many other countries have grounded the Boeing 737 Max 8 as the U.S.-based company faces the challenge of proving the jets are safe to fly amid suspicions that faulty software might have contributed to both crashes.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said regulators had new data from satellite-based tracking that showed the movements of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 were similar to those of Lion Air Flight 610, which crashed off Indonesia in October, killing 189 people.
Both planes flew with erratic altitude changes that could indicate the pilots struggled to control the aircraft. Both crews tried to return to the airport.
Boeing said it supports the grounding of its planes as a precautionary step, while reiterating “full confidence” in their safety. Engineers are making changes to the system designed to prevent an aerodynamic stall if sensors detect that the jet’s nose is pointed too high and its speed is too slow.
Investigators looking into the Indonesian crash are examining whether the software automatically pushed the plane’s nose down repeatedly, and whether the Lion Air pilots knew how to solve that problem. Ethiopian Airlines says its pilots received special training on the software.
At the rural crash site outside Addis Ababa, searchers picked through the debris. Members of Israel’s ZAKA emergency response team were granted access for forensic work.
“The next steps will take some time,” Canada’s ambassador to Ethiopia, Antoine Chevrier, told The Associated Press, saying discussions on repatriating victims’ remains would begin once the identification process begins to yield results. Canada lost 18 people.
After prayers for the dead at a mosque in Addis Ababa, impatience flashed over the lack of information.
“We need the remains of our children,” said Ibrahim Mohammed from Kenya. “And they are saying that it can take six months or more.”
“We came here for nothing,” said Nejmedin Gazi, a Yemeni brother of a victim. “They told us the bodies were small pieces, more than 5,000 pieces.”
Another Kenyan citizen, Pauline Gathu, lost a brother. Thirty-two Kenyans were killed in all.
“We were expecting that we will have our body wellkept but we are amazed to hear that there is nothing, totally nothing,” she said.
Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres laid a wreath in memory of those who died. The victims came from 35 countries and included at least 21 UN staffers.
WE WERE EXPECTING THAT WE WILL HAVE OUR BODY WELLKEPT BUT ... THERE IS NOTHING.