BRAND NEW #BOEING #B738 CRASHES AFTER TAKE OFF FROM BOLE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
(Posted 10th March 2019)
A five months old Boeing B737MAX8 of Ethiopian Airlines crashed earlier this morning not long after taking off from Addis Ababa for Nairobi / Kenya.
The aircraft, registered as ET-ATJ, MSN 62450/7243, was delivered to the airline on the 30th October last year, in other words was the aircraft almost brand new.
All on board, 8 crew and 149 passengers, are said to have perished in the fiery crash.
Airport authorities in Addis Ababa report that contact was lost with the aircraft at 08.44 hrs after lifting off from runway 27R at 08.38 hrs, all times local.
With the weather reported fine, apart from a few clouds at 2.500 feet, is it now down to an evolving air accident investigation to establish the cause of the crash with technical problems not ruled out at this early stage.
Speculation over the crash at this stage, given a visibility of 10+ kilometres, is futile until flight data and flight voice recorders have been found and their content interpreted.
However, the aviation world’s eyes will be focusing closely on the investigation, given more recent incidents with new B737’s and aviation authorities and regulators will keenly follow the unfolding enquiry to learn all there is to know about the technical status of the aircraft.
Ethiopian Airlines operate their own maintenance facility in Addis Ababa which has an excellent reputation across Africa and other parts of the world and from where maintenance data will be supplied to the investigators to get a full understanding of what has happened this morning.
Condolences are expressed to the families, colleagues and friends of those who died in the crash.
Once updates are available will follow on reports be filed here.
