Flight Safety Information March 10, 2019 - No. 051 In This Issue Crash: Ethiopian B737-8Max near Bishoftu on Mar 10th 2019, impacted terrain after departure Boeing 737 MAX 8 - Fatal Accident (Ethiopia) Ethiopian Airlines flight bound for Nairobi crashes with 157 on board Ethiopian Airlines: Boeing 737 crashes on way to Kenya Crash: Ethiopian B737-8Max near Bishoftu on Mar 10th 2019, impacted terrain after departure An Ethiopian Boeing 737-8 MAX, registration ET-AVJ performing flight ET-302 from Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) to Nairobi (Kenya) with 149 passengers and 8 crew, was climbing out of Nairobi when the aircraft levelled off at about 9000 feet, radar contact was lost shortly after at 08:44L (05:44Z). The airline reported rescue and recovery forces are on their way to the crash site near Bishoftu (Ethiopia) about 17nm southsoutheast of Addis Ababa. The aircraft had departed Addis Ababa at 08:38L, radio and radar contact with the aircraft was lost at 08:44L. Ethiopia's Prime Minister expressed his deep condolences to the families who lost their loved ones. The last transponder data were received from position N9.027 E39.153 about 21nm east of Addis Ababa at FL086. Terrain elevation at that point is 8130 feet MSL, FL086 corrected for QNH indicates the aircraft was flying at 8173 feet MSL at that position. Metars: HAAB 100600Z 07010KT 9999 FEW025 18/09 Q1029= HAAB 100500Z 06008KT 9999 FEW025 16/10 Q1029= HAAB 100400Z 06008KT 9999 FEW025 13/11 Q1028= HAAB 100300Z 07004KT 9999 FEW025 13/11 Q1028= HAAB 100100Z 09006KT 9999 FEW025 13/11 Q1027 Map (Graphics: AVH/Google Earth): http://avherald.com/h?article=4c534c4a&opt=0 Back to Top Boeing 737 MAX 8 - Fatal Accident (Ethiopia) Status: Preliminary Date: Sunday 10 March 2019 Time: 08:44 Type: Boeing 737 MAX 8 Operator: Ethiopian Airlines Registration: ET-AVJ C/n / msn: 62450/7243 First flight: 2018-10-30 (4 months) Engines: 2 CFMI LEAP-1B Crew: Fatalities: / Occupants: 8 Passengers: Fatalities: / Occupants: 149 Total: Fatalities: / Occupants: 157 Aircraft damage: Damaged beyond repair Location: near Bishoftu ( Ethiopia) Phase: En route (ENR) Nature: International Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Addis Ababa-Bole Airport (ADD/HAAB), Ethiopia Destination airport: Nairobi-Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO/HKJK), Kenya Flightnumber: ET302 Narrative: Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302, a Boeing 737 MAX 8, is reported to have crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa-Bole Airport. The aircraft took off from runway 27R at Bole Airport at 05:38 UTC (08:38 local time). The airline reports that contact was lost at 08:44 local time. Weather at the time of the accident was fine with a visibility of 10+ km, few clouds at 2500 feet. Sources: » Ethiopian Airlines METAR Weather report: 05:00 UTC / 08:00 local time: HAAB 100500Z 06008KT 9999 FEW025 16/10 Q1029 06:00 UTC / 09:00 local time: HAAB 100600Z 07010KT 9999 FEW025 18/09 Q1029 https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20190310-0 Back to Top Ethiopian Airlines flight bound for Nairobi crashes with 157 on board ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 bound for Nairobi crashed Sunday with 157 people on board with no information yet on casualties. According to a statement from the airline, the flight took off at 8:38 a.m. and lost contact six minutes later, crashing near the city of Bishoftu less than 40 miles to the southeast of Addis Ababa. "At this time search and rescue operations are in progress and we have no confirmed information about survivors or any possible casualties," said a statement from the airline. "It is believed that there were 149 passengers and eight crew onboard the flight but we are currently confirming the details of the passenger manifest for the flight." The airline set up emergency hotline numbers for families and friends of victims and changed the cover image on its Facebook page to black. The prime minister's office issued a tweet expressing its "deepest condolences" to the families of those who lost people on the flight. The airline said the plane was a Boeing 737 800 Max, the same model aircraft involved in the Indonesian Lion Air crash in October in which the plane plunged into the sea shortly after take off. Ethiopian Airlines announced the acquisition of the brand new Max aircraft in July. According to the Swedish Flightradar 24 website, the aircraft had its maiden flight in October. The site added that the flight's vertical speed was "unstable" after take off. The Max model is the newest version of Boeing's workhorse 737 model, the world's most popular commercial aircraft. Following the crash of Lion Air flight 610 in Indonesia, Boeing issued an emergency notice that an erroneous sensor input could "cause the flight crew to have difficulty controlling the airplane," leading to "possible impact with terrain." This model plane lacks a common override feature that allows pilots to reliably pull planes out of nose dives. Ethiopian Airlines is the continent's largest airline in terms of destinations and passengers served. It has ambitions to becoming the gateway to Africa. The airline has over 100 destinations worldwide, including flights to Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. The airline's last major accident was in 2010 when an aircraft plunged into the Mediterranean shortly after take off from Beirut's airport killing all 90 people on board. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/ethiopian-airlines-flight-bound-for-nairobi- crashes-with-157-on-board/2019/03/10/0be5826c-4310-11e9-90f0- 0ccfeec87a61_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.b3b717aaada4 Back to Top Ethiopian Airlines: Boeing 737 crashes on way to Kenya An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 passenger jet has crashed on a flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi in Kenya. The flight is believed to have had 149 passengers and eight crew members on board, the airline says. A spokesman said the crash happened at 08.44 local time on Sunday, shortly after take-off from the Ethiopian capital. First word of the crash came when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed expressed his "deepest condolences" on Twitter. In a statement, the airline said that search and rescue operations were under way near the crash site around the town of Bishoftu, which is 60km (37 miles) south-east of the capital. It did not provide details on the number of casualties. It is not clear what caused the crash. "Ethiopian Airlines staff will be sent to the accident scene and will do everything possible to assist the emergency services," the statement added. Air disasters timeline Boeing, the company that built the aeroplane, said in a tweet that it was "closely monitoring the situation". Its 737 Max-8 aircraft is relatively new to the skies, having been launched in 2016. It was added to the Ethiopian Airlines fleet late last year. Another plane of the same model was involved in a crash five months ago, when a Lion Air flight crashed into the sea near Indonesia with nearly 190 people on board. What do we know about the airline's safety record? Ethiopian Airlines flies to many destinations in Africa, making it a popular carrier in a continent where many airlines fly only from their home country to destinations outside Africa. It has a good reputation for safety, although in 2010 one of the company's aeroplanes crashed in the Mediterranean Sea shortly after leaving Beirut. The incident killed 90 people on board. The airline's highest fatalities to date came in a November 1996 crash during a hijacking on a flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi. One of the aeroplane's engines stopped when the fuel ran out and although pilots attempted an emergency water landing, they hit a coral reef in the Indian Ocean and 123 of the 175 people on board were killed. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47513508 Curt Lewis