Ethiopia Airline Crash: Dead pilots absolved in report

Ethiopian Airlines on Thursday released the preliminary report on the Boeing 737 Max 800, which crashed on 10 March shortly after take-off, indicating that the pilots complied with Boeing’s emergency procedure.

“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”, the report said.

Flight ET 302 with 157 people on board, including two Nigerians crashed six minutes after leaving the Bole Airport in Addis Ababa.

Here is the preliminary statement released Thursday:

Ethiopian Airlines Aviation Group which is the largest and the most successful Aviation group in Africa, would like to acknowledge the preliminary report of the accident of ET 302/10 March, 2019 and would like to appreciate the hard work of the investigation team.

The preliminary report clearly showed that the Ethiopian Airlines Pilots who were commanding FlightET 302/10 March have followed the Boeing recommended and 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.

Group CEO, Tewolde GebreMariam said that “ All of us at Ethiopian Airlines are still going through deep mourning for the loss of our loved ones and we would like to express our deep sympathy and condolences for the families, relatives and friends of the victims.

“Meanwhile; we are very proud of our pilots’ compliances 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 Center 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 .

“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our valued customers, the travelling public, the media and Global aviation professionals for the remarkably high level of vote of confidences and strong support that you have been giving us starting from the day of this tragic accident. We will double our efforts every single day to win your confidence and earn your business. Your Safety will remain our top most priority and we will continue to work together with our partners around the world to make air travel safer and more comfortable.

“My highest appreciation also goes to my 16, 000 colleagues at Ethiopian Airlines for their resilience, high standards of professionalism and their continued commitment for operational excellence and their award winning customer services which enabled us to continue our business with out any operational disruption, flight delays nor flight cancellations.”