Unfortunately, this morning a sad news came in from Africa, more specifically from Ethopia about the passenger jet crash that had 149 passengers and 8 crew members on board.
The flight ET302 from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa was flying to Nairobi in Kenya. The crash happened after only six minutes from the take off at 08:44 local time. The aircraft in question was brand new Boeing 737 Max-8. So far it is not clear what caused the accident.
The route of flight ET302 and location of the crash
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE BOEING 737 MAX 8
Boeing, as one of the worlds largest aircraft manufacturer, launched it’s new model of 737 named Max-8 in 2016. The aircraft can hold up to 210 passengers and has a range of 6570 km. Ethiopian Airlines added this aircraft in it’s fleet as late as July last year.
There is only one fatal crash involving this aircraft type when a couple of months ago, Lion Air Flight 610 crashed in Java Sea killing all on board. However, it also crashed soon after take off (13 minutes after taking off).
ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES – COMPANY’S PICTURE
Ethiopian Airlines, often referred to as simply Ethiopian, is Ethiopia’s flag carrier and is wholly owned by the country’s government. It flies to many destinations in Africa and has a large fleet of over 100 aircraft, almost all of them from Boeing. In terms of safety, Ethiopian Airlines has a very good safety record especially in contrast to other African airlines. However, their most recent fatal crash in last 23 years except the one today was in 2010 when the Boeing 737-800 crashed near Beirut also shortly after take off. The investigation concluded that it was a pilot error that contributed to the fatal crash in a stormy weather.
[…] the aftermath of the fatal crash of Ethiopian Airlines few days ago Boeing announced to ground entire global fleet of it’s Boeing 737 Max 8 […]
[…] investigatiors in ET 302 air crash last month published today the preliminary report of the crash which pointed out that pilots could not stop […]