The blame game: Who’s liable for Ethiopian Flight 302 crash?

The spat between Boeing and Ethiopian Airlines over who should be held responsible for the crash of Flight 302 came to many as a surprise. WOLE SHADARE writes that Boeing accidents are another reminder that safety policies can have unintended fatal consequences

Public concern

Why does it take an air crash to raise public concern about aviation safety? Even though air travel is still the safest means of transportation (based on the percentage of fatalities compared to the number of people who fly), there are hundreds of accidents just waiting to happen.

Face-off

The seeming spat between Boeing and Ethiopian Airlines, operator of B737MAX that crashed at Bishoftu, Ethiopia, killing all 157 passengers, could hamper investigation and lead to more accidents waiting to happen, experts have said. Last week, aviators and people concerned with aviation were shocked when blames and counter blames emanated from the two firms in what many feared could hamper probe into a crash that has put aviation on the spot. The passengers on the Ethiopian Flight 302 were on board one of Boeing’s newest, most advanced planes. The pilot and co-pilot of the 737 MAX 8 were more than experienced having acquired huge flying hours. The weather conditions were not an issue and the flight was routine.

Fact gathering

So what caused that plane to crash into a farmland six minutes after take-off? More than two weeks after the catastrophe, investigators are still piecing together the clues. As they do, the focus has turned to Boeing, which allegedly failed to tell pilots about a new system feature implicated in the crash — information that aviation analysts say could have possibly saved the lives of all 157 people on board. While the manufacturer, Boeing maintains its trust in the airplane, people close to Ethiopian Airlines’ operations said the captain of the doomed Flight 302 never trained on the simulator. Ethiopian Airlines surpassed many carriers by becoming one of the first to install a simulator to teach pilots how to fly the new Boeing 737 Max 8. Boeing has said that experienced 737 pilots needed little training for the new Max 8, an assertion that has now come under close scrutiny by regulatory officials and pilots at other airlines. Two of the planes have fatally crashed in the past five months, and regulators around the world grounded all Max 8s penultimate week. The people, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity because Ethiopian Airlines had not authorized disclosure of the information, said the carrier had the Max 8 simulator up and running in January, two months before Flight 302 crashed.

In-experienced crew?

The pilot of Flight 302, Yared Getachew, who had 8,000 hours of flying experience including on the 737, was said to have taken a refresher course on a different simulator in late September and early October. Handsome, cosmopolitan, Getachew was to marry another plane captain this year. Studious, serious Ahmednur, Mohammed the First Officer rented his first apartment with his maiden paycheck in February. Getachew, 29, was captain; Mohammed was 27. While the pairs professionalism has been lauded, air safety experts fear they-pilots in a similar crash in Indonesia in October may not have been sufficiently versed in a new automated anti-stall system in the Boring 737MAX series. According to one person familiar with the airline, he was not due for another round of simulator training until after the crash on March 10. It was unclear if the second pilot on Flight 302, the co-pilot, had trained on the Max 8 simulator. Nor was it clear if the airline had used the simulator for refresher courses it requires pilots to take every six months, or only to train new pilots. Still, use of the simulator by Ethiopian Airlines means the carrier was among the few in the world that not only had a working simulator for Boeing Max jets but was using it a few months after the first Max 8 crash, Lion Air Flight 610.

Boeing, FAA under scrutiny

Despite Boeing’s assertions that the plane was safe, the crashes have raised questions about whether Boeing and its American regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration, did enough to train pilots on how to deal with the Max 8’s new features, in particular an automated system to prevent stalls known as MCAS. Hours after the disclosure Ethiopian Airlines tweeted in a statement challenging what it described as “wrong reporting” without specifying what was incorrect in a statement to the media yesterday said its pilots completed the Boeing recommended and the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved differences training from the B737NG aircraft to the Ethiopian operation and before crashthey start flying the B737-8 MAX. According to the management, “The pilots are also made aware and well briefed on the emergency airworthiness directive issued by the FAA following the Lion Air accident. The content of the airworthiness directive has also been well incorporated in all pilots training manuals, operational procedures and working manuals. The B737MAX full flight simulator is not designed to simulate the MCAS system problems”. The carrier urged all concerned to refrain from making such “uninformed, incorrect, irresponsible and misleading statements during the period of the accident investigation. International regulations require all stakeholders to wait patiently for the result of the investigation”. The airline’s statement did not include information on the captain’s simulator training. However, its statement said that its pilots had completed “differences training” recommended by Boeing and approved by the F.A.A. before they switched to flying the Max 8 jets from an earlier Boeing 737 model. Boeing said that pilots who had flown earlier models did not need additional simulator training, and even after the October crash in Indonesia, the F.A.A. agreed. Many pilots learned the new features of the Boeing on an iPad, and many were not originally informed of the existence of the automated system, which can push the plane’s nose down if it is approaching a stall.

Experts’ views

Former Commandant, Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, Group Capt. John Ojikutu (Rtd) cautioned both Boeing and Ethiopian Airlines to thread softly. His words, “Ethiopian Airlines and Boeing should be careful with this type of excuses so as not no erode travellers confidence from flying. We need accurate report rather than excuses and bulk passing”. Aviation analyst, Olumide Ohunayo said both firms should not rush to judgment over the matter, describing it as unfair. He further stated that the final report would point exactly what led to the accident. “When Lion Air crash happened, they quickly hit the airline safety record and the Indonesian regulator. Since Ethiopian Airlines and Ethiopia are water-tight, they went for the pilot’s age forgetting that he had 8, 100 flying hours. Sensing that would not work, they have flown a fake training kite’. Not a few believe that the whole thing could turn  messy, expressing the fear that investigation could be compromised. They maintain that it is very premature for Boeing and Ethiopian Airlines to begin to trade blames when investigation has not yet been completed, describing it as annoying.

Last line

An investigation is still underway to determine what caused the crash in Ethiopia. A possible fault in the MCAS system is part of the inquiry, and the authorities in Ethiopia have said that a preliminary review of the “black boxes” — voice recording and flight data-revealed similarities to the Indonesian crash. But experts have cautioned that any conclusions at this stage of an investigation are preliminary and could change.

Wole Shadare