(Nairobi) Ethiopian investigators confirm in their final report that a flight software failure was behind the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX in March 2019, the Ethiopian Minister of Health said on Friday. Transport.
On March 10, 2019, six minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa, flight ET302 bound for Nairobi crashed in a field southeast of the Ethiopian capital, killing all 157 passengers and crew.
This accident occurred less than five months after that, in similar conditions, of a 737 MAX of the Indonesian company Lion Air, which had killed 189 people.
The succession of these two tragedies, which plunged the American aircraft manufacturer Boeing into the worst crisis in its history, had brought to light a fault in flight control software, the MCAS anti-stall system.
In a progress report in March 2020, Ethiopian investigators had already pointed out that the design of the MCAS system “makes it vulnerable to unwanted activation”.
“Consistent with the preliminary report,” the final report confirmed that a sensor on the aircraft’s left “failed immediately after takeoff, sending erroneous data to the flight control system,” the press told reporters. Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges.
PHOTO ASSOCIATED PRESS
Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges
“The erroneous data triggered the MCAS system, which repeatedly nosedived the aircraft until the pilot lost control” of the aircraft, she continued.
The final report must be made public in the coming days, said the minister.
Following this second air disaster in less than five months, the delivery and production of 737 MAX had been suspended and all existing aircraft had been immobilized for 20 months, before being gradually authorized to fly again from the end of 2020. after Boeing made corrections.
Airlines, including Ethiopian Airlines last February, have since returned more than 200 such aircraft to service.