The black boxes from the Boeing 737 MAX 8 that crashed on Sunday in Ethiopia have been sent to France for analysis, Ethiopian Airlines said on Thursday.
“An Ethiopian delegation led by Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has flown the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) to Paris, France, for investigation,” the airline said in a statement.
Ethiopia said on Wednesday it would send the FDR and the CVR to France because the east African country lacked the facilities to carry out the detailed analysis required to determine the cause of the deadly disaster.
The devices from the US made aircraft will be analysed by France’s BEA air accident investigation agency. Analysts backed the decision by Africa’s biggest airline to send the black boxes to France.
“To send the data recorders to the USA would be to allow a party with a vested interest to be a judge in its own case,” Awo Allo, a lecturer in law at Keele University in the UK, said.
“Boeing is more than just a company for the US and Ethiopia cannot reasonably expect a judicious outcome from a US investigation,” Awo said.
Flight ET 302, heading to Nairobi from Addis Ababa, crashed about 50km outside the Ethiopian capital six minutes after taking off. All 157 people on board – 149 passengers and eight crew – died in the crash.
