The two plane crashes - one in Indonesia, the other in Ethiopia - that led to the worldwide grounding of Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes displayed similarities that linked them right away. On Thursday, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg assumed responsibility for the flight-control problems that contributed to the accidents, saying, “We own it.’’ Here’s a look at the commonality and differences between the crashes: Likely cause At the time Lion Air Flight 610 plummeted into the Java Sea off Indonesia on Oct. 29, killing all 189 aboard, hardly anybody had heard of MCAS, the aircraft’s new anti-stall system. That included the pilots, whom Boeing had failed to notify with the reasoning that the revamped model flew much like the old 737. Some of the evidence about that tragedy and the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March 10 pointed to erroneous readings from a single angle of attack sensor that activated MCAS – and repeatedly pitched the planes’ nose down – as major factors, and Muilenburg acknowledged as much. While aviation experts often point out crashes are not caused by a single reason, the problems with MCAS and the pilots’ lack of familiarity with the system certainly stand out. “As pilots have told us, erroneous activation of the MCAS function can add to what is already a high workload environment,’’ Muilenburg said. “It’s our responsibility to eliminate this risk.’’ Flight pattern The link between the two catastrophes was not established merely because both involved the same airplane model. The Federal Aviation Administration, which was days behind its counterparts elsewhere in calling for the MAX jets to be grounded, based its decision on satellite tracking that showed the flights followed a similar path. In both cases, the pilots struggled to control the aircraft shortly after takeoff, as the jets experienced drastic changes in airspeed and altitude before lurching down. The Ethiopian Airlines flight was in the air for six minutes; the Lion Air flight for 12. Weather was not considered a factor in either crash. Desperate last moments Data from the cockpit voice recorder has shed light on how the pilots reacted in both situations, and it appears they were overwhelmed by the MCAS malfunction. MCAS was a foreign concept when the Lion Air flight took off from Jakarta, and according to media reports, as the tension mounted and control of the plane remained elusive, Indian-born pilot Bhavye Suneja flipped through a technical manual trying to find a solution. His Indonesian first officer, known by the single name Harvino, prayed for a miracle. The Ethiopian flight lasted half as long and ran into trouble almost from the first minute, with the aircraft barely 500 feet in the air. The Wall Street Journal reported an exchange between captain Yared Getachew and co-pilot Ahmed Nur Mohammed as one tells the other, “Pitch up! Pitch up!’’ Shortly afterward, the radio went dead and the planed plummeted onto a field outside the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, killing all 157 aboard. Maintenance Ethiopian is known as one of the top airlines in Africa, with a strong safety record and a fleet featuring mostly newer aircraft. No maintenance issues had been reported on its MAX 8 plane and there was no reason to fear any mishaps when Flight 302 took off for a two-hour trip to Nairobi, Kenya. Apology:Boeing CEO accepts blame for two plane crashes, apologizes to families of victims: 'We own it' Duly prepared? :Are pilots outside the U.S. getting the training needed to fly jets, including Boeing 737 Max 8? Indonesia’s Lion Air does not enjoy the same sterling reputation, given its history of safety lapses. Data-reading problems were reported in the four flights before the disaster, including one the previous day when the plane jerked so violently that some passengers vomited. That’s believed to be the same flight in which an off-duty pilot traveling on the jump seat recognized the malfunction, overrode the automated system and controlled the plane. Pilot experience and training Some U.S. pilots who have flown the 737 series – but not the MAX – have wondered aloud why the aviators on both flights didn’t manually stop the trim wheel, a piece of equipment in the cockpit console that controls the horizontal stabilizer on the plane’s tail. Pilots for airlines elsewhere in the world train under a different system that requires fewer flight hours than their American counterparts, and Nur had only 200 hours of experience, an unthinkably low total for a first officer on a 737 for a U.S. airline. But Getachew was highly experienced with more than 8,000 hours, and both Suneja and Harvino had more than 5,000 hours. A bigger factor might have been training on a MAX simulator, which Ethiopian officials said both Getachew and Nur had. It’s not known whether Suneja and Harvino did, but it appears unlikely considering the simulators’ scarcity. At a news conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopian Minister of Transport Dagmawit Moges said Getachew and Nur did everything by the book as they attempted to keep the plane from nosediving. “The crew performed all the procedures repeatedly provided by the manufacturer but were not able to control the aircraft,’’ Moges said.<doc-sep>FILE PHOTO: American civil aviation and Boeing investigators search through the debris at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 12, 2019. REUTERS/Baz Ratner/File Photo (Reuters) - Ethiopian authorities will deliver their first report on the crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. local time (0730 GMT), a source told Reuters. Some 35 nationalities were among the 157 passengers and crew who died when the new Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane crashed just 6 minutes after take-off from the capital Addis Ababa in clear conditions. The March 10 disaster was the second crash of a MAX 8 in five months and has prompted the worldwide grounding of Boeing’s best-selling plane.<doc-sep>Ethiopian Airlines: 'No survivors' on crashed Boeing 737 Published 10 March 2019 media caption The BBC's Emmanuel Igunza, at the scene, said there was a huge hole at the point of impact An Ethiopian Airlines jet has crashed shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa, killing all on board. The airline said 149 passengers and eight crew members were on flight ET302 from the Ethiopian capital to Nairobi in Kenya. It said 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, eight Americans and seven British nationals were among the passengers. The crash happened at 08:44 local time, six minutes after the months-old Boeing 737 Max-8 took off. Another plane of the same model was involved in a crash less than five months ago, when a Lion Air flight crashed into the sea near Indonesia with nearly 190 people on board. Do we know how it happened? The cause of the disaster is not yet clear. However, the pilot had reported difficulties and had asked to return to Addis Ababa, the airline said. "At this stage, we cannot rule out anything," Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam told reporters at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa. "We cannot also attribute the cause to anything because we will have to comply with the international regulation to wait for the investigation." image copyright Jonathan Druion image caption The Boeing 737 Max-8 aircraft that crashed on Sunday Visibility was said to be good but air traffic monitor Flightradar24 reported that the plane's "vertical speed was unstable after take-off". An eyewitness at the scene told the BBC there was an intense fire as the aircraft hit the ground. "The blast and the fire were so strong that we couldn't get near it," he said. "Everything is burnt down." First word of the crash came when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed expressed his "deepest condolences" on Twitter. Recovery operations were under way near the crash site around the town of Bishoftu, which is 60km (37 miles) south-east of the capital. The plane was delivered to Ethiopian Airlines on 15 November last year. It underwent a "rigorous first check maintenance" on 4 February, the airline tweeted. Who are the victims? Mr Gebremariam told the news conference that passengers from more than 30 countries were on board the flight. He said they included 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, nine Ethiopians, eight Italians, eight Chinese, eight Americans, seven Britons, seven French citizens, six Egyptians, five Germans, four Indians and four people from Slovakia. media caption Son of Ethiopian Airlines passenger: "I'm still in shock" Slovak MP Anton Hrnko later confirmed via Facebook that his wife and two children were on the plane. Three Austrians, three Swedes, three Russians, two Moroccans, two Spaniards, two Poles and two Israelis were also on the flight. image copyright Ethiopian Airlines image caption Ethiopian Airlines shared this image of CEO Tewolde Gebremariam at the crash site There was also one passenger each from Ireland, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Belgium, Indonesia, Somalia, Norway, Serbia, Togo, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda and Yemen. One person held a UN passport, the airline said. It believed some passengers could have been heading to a session of the UN Environment Assembly which begins in Nairobi on Monday. A UN source also told Agence France-Presse that "at least a dozen of the victims were affiliated with the UN", and that this may include freelance translators. World Food Programme executive director David Beasley said seven members of agency staff had died in the crash. The WFP family mourns today -- @WFP staff were among those aboard the Ethiopian Airlines flight. We will do all that is humanly possible to help the families at this painful time. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. — David Beasley (@WFPChief) March 10, 2019 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. View original tweet on Twitter Among them was engineer Michael Ryan, a father of two, from Cork, Ireland. Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar said Mr Ryan had been "doing life-changing work in Africa". One of the Canadian victims was named as Prof Pius Adesanmi, an expert in African studies at Carleton University in Ottawa. The pilot was named as Senior Captain Yared Getachew who had a "commendable performance" with more than 8,000 hours in the air, the airline said. The plane's First Officer Ahmed Nur Mohammod Nur had 200 flight hours, it added. What reaction has there been? Ethiopia has declared Monday a national day of mourning. Canadian PM Justin Trudeau said he was "deeply saddened" to hear of the crash, adding: "We join the international community in mourning the loss of so many lives." UK PM Theresa May tweeted her condolences: “I was deeply saddened to hear of the devastating loss of life following the plane crash in Ethiopia. At this very difficult time my thoughts are with the families and friends of the British citizens on board and all those affected by this tragic incident.” – PM @Theresa_May — UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) March 10, 2019 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. View original tweet on Twitter French President Emmanuel Macron expressed solidarity with the people of Ethiopia and Kenya, tweeting: "We share their sorrow." António Guterres, the UN secretary-general, also tweeted about the crash. Deeply saddened by the news this morning of the plane crash in Ethiopia, claiming the lives of all on board. My heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of all the victims — including our own @UN staff — who perished in this tragedy. — António Guterres (@antonioguterres) March 10, 2019 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. View original tweet on Twitter African Union Commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat expressed "utter shock and immense sadness" while Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said he was "saddened". image copyright Reuters image caption Relatives waiting at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, were devastated by the news Mahboub Maalim, executive secretary of the East African bloc Igad, said the region was in mourning. "I cannot seem to find words comforting enough to the families and friends of those who might have lost their lives in this tragedy," he said in a statement. What do we know about the plane? The 737 Max-8 aircraft is relatively new to the skies, having only been in commercial use since 2017. Boeing said it was "deeply saddened" by the crash and offered to send a team to provide technical assistance. Following the Lion Air crash last October, investigators said the pilots had appeared to struggle with an automated system designed to keep the plane from stalling - a new feature of the Boeing 737 Max. The anti-stalling system repeatedly forced the plane's nose down, despite efforts by pilots to correct this, findings suggest. There is no suggestion that the Ethiopian Airlines jet suffered similar issues on Sunday. What about the airline's safety record? Ethiopian Airlines flies to many destinations in Africa, making it a popular carrier in a continent where many airlines fly only from their home country to destinations outside Africa. It has a good reputation for safety, although in 2010 one of the company's aeroplanes crashed in the Mediterranean Sea shortly after leaving Beirut. The incident killed 90 people on board. The airline's highest fatalities prior to this came in a November 1996 crash during a hijacking on a flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi.<doc-sep>
The crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 302 on Sunday (March 10), which killed all 157 people on board, is the second deadly incident in less than six months involving Boeing’s 737 Max series, an aircraft seen as a game-changer for the short-haul industry. In October 2018, a Lion Air flight departing from Jakarta crashed 13 minutes after takeoff, killing all 189 on board. The crash investigation first looked at malfunctioning sensors on the aircraft, and then turned to the role of a new anti-stall mechanism in the 737 Max 8 and 9 series planes. Soon after the Lion Air accident, the US Federal Aviation Authority issued an emergency directive ordering that flight manuals be updated with a procedure for how to stabilize an aircraft when the anti-stall mechanism, which responds to information from the plane’s “angle-of-attack” sensors, kicks in. The mechanism can sharply and suddenly point the plane’s nose downward. Boeing also directed airlines to a checklist to follow if the plane responds to erroneous angle-of-attack information. The most recent crash occurred just minutes into a roughly two-hour flight from Bole International Airport in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa to Nairobi, Kenya, after takeoff at 8:38 am local time. Investigators are examining wreckage around the town of Bishoftu, some 60 km (37 miles) southeast of Addis Ababa. Ethiopian Group Airlines CEO Tewolde GebreMariam, who visited the crash site and expressed his deep regret over the accident, said at a press conference that the pilot of the flight had an excellent flying record and had requested to turn back before going off the radar. Boeing has said it is “deeply saddened” to hear of the deaths on ET 302 and is ready to support Ethiopian Airlines, and to offer technical assistance under the direction of the US National Transportation Safety Board. Few additional details are yet available about what happened on ET302 after take-off. Flightradar24, a Sweden-based flight-tracking platform, has said that the aircraft’s vertical speed was unstable. A preliminary report from Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee in November did not assign responsibility for the Lion Air crash, but described the man-vs-machine battle that the pilot, an Indian national, and his co-pilot, an Indonesian national, faced against the flight system. The cockpit, without indicating an emergency, reportedly requested that the flight turn back to Jakarta but air-traffic controllers lost contact with the plane shortly thereafter. A more comprehensive report is expected in October or November this year. Airline unions said after the Lion Air crash that pilots were not aware of the new anti-stall mechanism until that incident, and that they didn’t receive specific training for it. Boeing has said the steps required to stabilize the aircraft are part of pilot training. Pilots and safety experts have noted there are a number of steps to be followed, against the backdrop of a noisy anti-stall warning that rattles loudly. The anti-stall mechanism can begin functioning at a fairly low altitude, and can be set off by erroneous signals form a single sensor. The Max 8 and 9 series planes began to be inducted into fleets two years ago. Boeing and regulators have been looking at the possibility of a software update to alter how the Max’s anti-stall mechanism works, but this has not happened yet (paywall). Boeing is facing several lawsuits in the wake of the Lion Air crash, including one brought by the family of the Indonesian co-pilot, and another on behalf of families of 17 victims of that crash. —Abdi Latif Dahir contributed to this article