Nearly four years after the crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 that killed 157 people, Ethiopian officials reiterated their accusations towards Boeing over mechanical faults they say downed the 737-MAX 8 aircraft. State investigators on Friday released their final report into the crash.
The head of Ethiopia’s investigation, Amdeye Ayalew, blamed Boeing for their failure to “disclose early and attentively” issues with the 737-MAX 8’s Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS).
The aircraft, which was bound for the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, came down minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa.
The MCAS system is believed to have caused the plane to “pitch the nose of the airplane down to the point the pilot lost control”, said Ethiopian Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges. “The airplane left (at an) angle of attack or AOA sensor failed immediately after takeoff sending faulty data to the flight control system, the erroneous data in turn triggered the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System or MCAS which repeatedly pitched the nose of the airplane down to the point the pilot lost control” Moges added.
The final report into the Ethiopian Airlines Group incident also concluded that all professionals and planes related to the crash were correctly certified.
In March 2019, Ethiopia’s flight ET 302 Boeing 737-8 Max aircraft flying to the Kenyan capital Nairobi crashed went down six minutes after takeoff, killing all 157 people on board from 35 different countries.
