Ethiopian Airlines has acknowledged the preliminary report of the accident of ET 302/10 March, 2019, revealing that crew followed all procedures, but were unable to control the aircraft.
The airline also disclosed that the aircraft’s airworthiness was certified; the crew were capable of flying and followed Boeing’s procedures, and take off appeared normal.
In a statement issued by the airline Thursday, “The preliminary report clearly showed that the Ethiopian Airlines Pilots who were commanding Flight ET 302/10 March have followed the Boeing recommended and Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) approved emergency procedures to handle the most difficult emergency situation created on the airplane.
“Despite their hard work and full compliance with the emergency procedures, it was very unfortunate that they could not recover the airplane from the persistence of nose diving.
“As the investigation continues with more detailed analysis, as usual we will continue with our full cooperation with the investigation team.”
Tewolde GebreMariam, Group CEO of Ethiopian Airline said he was proud of airline’s pilots’ compliance to follow the emergency procedures and high level of professional performances in such extremely difficult situations.
“We are also very proud of our Global standard Pilot Training Centre and the Ethiopian Aviation Academy which is one of the largest and most modern in the world equipped with state of the art and latest training technologies,” GebreMariam said.
This is also as Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) said it would release six final reports of accidents and incidents on April 25, 2019, including the serious incident involving Delta Airlines Airbus A330-223 on February 14, 2018, which one of its engines caught fire causing the aircraft to return after take off.
Akin Olateru, commissioner of the AIB, made this known Thursday in an address at the AIB 2019 Stakeholders’ Forum with the theme to Review Accident Investigation Bureau Regulations 2016 and its implications on stakeholders.
According to Olateru, apart from the Delta report, other final reports to be released are the Cessna 208B Caravan with registration 5N-BMJ belonging to late former governor Danbaba Suntai which happened October 25, 2012, Diamond DA40 aircraft belonging to International Aviation College (IAC) Ilorin with registration 5N-BRD on November 25, 2013.
Other incidents include the 2018 Dana Runway incident in Port Harcourt Bristow helicopter Sikorsky S76C++ with registration 5N-BQJ on 3rd February 2016, and the Gulfstream 2000 belonging to NestOil with registration number 5N-SRI in February 2018.
Olateru said he had sent the report of the Delta incident to the aircraft manufacturer, Airbus for the 60 day review before the release of the report and it returned from the manufacturers with ‘No Comment’ meaning a great deal of confidence is reposed in that final report.
The AIB Commissioner also revealed that the bureau is in the process of signing an agreement with France so the AIB can handle investigations of French-Speaking West African countries’ incident,” they appreciate what we are doing here, he said, “meaning we are doing something right.”
During his welcome address, Tunde Fagbemi, managing director of Spring Fountain, explained the reason the industry was most regulated stating that accidents were a series of activities that happen but are preventable.
According to him, “Aviation is the most regulated industry in the world, why do we need to regulate and it’s unfortunate but Ethiopian knows the need for regulation, Boeing, Airbus, Bombardier know why aviation needs to be regulated.
“An accident is not what needs to happen, but it is something that we need to prevent. An accident is a culmination of many events and the most fundamental objective of AIB is safety and issuing safety recommendations for the betterment of the industry.”
