Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Plane crashes in Ethiopia
All 157 people aboard Boeing jetliner perish
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — A jetliner carrying 157 people, including eight Americans, crashed shortly after takeoff from the Ethiopian capital Sunday, killing everyone on board, authorities said.
It was the second deadly accident in five months for the Boeing 737 Max 8, the newest model of the U.S. manufacturer’s best-selling single-aisle airliner.
A 737 Max operated by Lion Air plunged into the Java Sea last year, killing 189 people. Both crashes happened minutes after the jets became airborne.
It was not clear what caused the Ethiopian Airlines plane to go down on its way to Nairobi, the capital of neighboring Kenya.
The plane was new — delivered in November — and the weather was clear, yet the Ethiopian pilot quickly sent out a distress call and was given clearance to return to the airport in Addis Ababa.
The plane never made it.
A list showed 35 nationalities among the dead. The list reflected a broad range of backgrounds, with passengers from China, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Israel, India and Somalia. The dead included 32 Kenyans and 18 Canadians. Several countries lost more than five citizens.
Ethiopian Airlines said the plane contained 149 passengers and eight crew members.
The pilot, who was identified by relatives as senior Capt. Yared Getachew, 28, of Addis Ababa, had family members who reside in northern Virginia and Texas. The airline confirmed Getachew was the pilot.
“We are deeply saddened by the news of the passing of our dear Yared,” the family said in a statement. “With his impeccable record as a pilot, he was one of the youngest in Ethiopian Airlines history to captain a Boeing 737. As a confident captain, his seniority at Ethiopian Airlines comes with an accomplished record of 8,000 hours flight time, and has made us incredibly proud of his achievements.”
A spokesman for the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration said the U.N. and its agencies today will fly flags at half-staff after reports that 19 employees of U.N.-affiliated organizations died in the crash.
Another official with the U.N., speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said Sunday that the tally of 19 people includes national delegates who might have been heading to U.N. meetings, including the U.N. Environment Program’s assembly that was set for today in Nairobi.
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said some of his colleagues were among the victims.
Eight Italians were among the dead, including Paolo Dieci, a co-founder of an aid group that partners with UNICEF in northern Africa.
The International Committee for the Development of Peoples said in a statement that “the world of international cooperation has lost one of its most brilliant advocates, and Italian civil society has lost a precious point of reference.”
The World Food Program confirmed that two of the eight Italian victims worked for the Rome-based U.N. agency.
Families around the world grieved their losses. At the Addis Ababa airport, a woman called a mobile number in vain. “Where are you, my son?” she said, in tears. Others cried as they approached the terminal. Other worried families gathered in Nairobi. Agnes Muilu, who was there to pick up his brother, said, “I just pray that he is safe or he was not on it.”
Relatives were frustrated by the lack of word on loved ones.
“Why are they taking us round and round? It is all over the news that the plane crashed,” said Edwin Ong’undi, who was waiting for his sister. “All we are asking for is information to know about their fate.”
Ethiopian officials declared today a national day of mourning.
PLANE SCRUTINY
Safety experts cautioned against quickly drawing too many parallels between Sunday’s crash and October’s crash of the Lion Air plane.
Indonesian investigators have not determined a cause for the Lion Air crash, but days after the accident, Boeing sent a notice to airlines that faulty information from a sensor could cause the plane to automatically point its nose down. The notice reminded pilots of the procedure for handling such a situation.
Alan Diehl, a former National Transportation Safety Board investigator, said there are many possible explanations for Sunday’s crash, including engine problems, pilot error, weight load, sabotage or bird strikes.
William Waldock, an aviation-safety professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, said suspicion will be raised because the same type of plane appeared to crash the same way — a fatal nosedive that left wreckage in tiny pieces. “Investigators are not big believers in coincidence,” he said.
Waldock said Boeing will look more closely at the flight-management system and automation on the 737 Max. But he noted that it is very early, and more will be known after investigators find and analyze the Ethiopian plane’s flight recorder.
Sunday’s crash carved a crater into the ground, and crews were still searching for the recorder at sunset, Ethiopian Airlines’ chief operating officer said.
U.S. airlines responded to the crash by emphasizing the safety of their fleets.
Southwest Airlines’ fleet is made up entirely of 737s, and it has 34 of the Max planes in service. The airline has ordered 280 of the aircraft.
Officials said Southwest has been in touch with Boeing and plans to follow the investigation closely. It had not made changes to its operations or inspection protocol Sunday, airline officials said.
“We remain confident in the safety and airworthiness of our fleet of more than 750 Boeing aircraft,” a statement from Southwest said.
American Airlines, which has received 22 Max planes out of an order of 100, said it was closely monitoring the investigation but remained confident in the safety of its aircraft. In China, however, government officials asked domestic airlines to temporarily ground their Max planes, the Beijing-based news magazine Caijing reported, citing an unidentified industry participant.
State-owned Ethiopian Airlines is widely considered the best-managed airline in Africa, and it 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.
“Ethiopian Airlines is one of the safest airlines in the world. At this stage we cannot rule out anything,” said Tewolde Gebremariam, Ethiopian Airlines’ chief executive officer.
Boeing said a technical team was ready to provide assistance at the request of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. U.S. air-safety officials are assisting in the investigation, as is the Paris prosecutor’s office — standard procedure when French citizens are killed abroad.