Ethiopian Airlines crash update - flight recorders recovered from crash site

World Monday 11/March/2019 17:20 PM
By: Times News Service
Ethiopian Airlines crash update - flight recorders recovered from crash site

Muscat: The flight recorders from crashed Ethiopian Airlines plane ET 302, that went down on Sunday, have been recovered by investigators.

The devices recovered from the crash site are the Boeing 737 Max 8's cockpit voice recorder and the digital flight data recorder, Ethiopian Airlines announced on Monday.

In a statement, the Ethiopian national carrier said, “The Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) of ET 302 have been recovered.”

Sunday’s tragic incident — which killed all 157 people on board — was the second fatal crash of a 737 MAX 8 in just five months.

Flight ET 302 was flying from Addis Ababa to Nairobi in Kenya and took off at 8:38 am on the morning of Sunday, 10 February. It reportedly crashed just six minutes later. It was carrying 149 passengers and eight flight crew on board, from 35 countries.

A statement by Ethiopian Airlines, released on March 10 after the crash, read, “Following the tragic accident of ET 302/10 March B-737-8 Max (ET-AVJ), Ethiopian Airlines has decided to ground all B-737-8 MAX fleet effective March 10/2019 until further notice.

“Although we don’t yet know the cause of the accident, we had to decide to ground the particular fleet as an extra safety precaution,” the statement added.

China’s aviation regulator, as well as Ethiopian Airlines and Cayman Airways, have grounded their 737 MAX 8 jets.
In addition, United Arab Emirates-based carrier Fly Dubai has said it “remains confident” in the airworthiness of its Boeing 737 fleet. “We are monitoring the situation and continue to be in touch with Boeing. We remain confident in the airworthiness of our fleet,” a spokesperson said.