BEIRUT: Flight crew mismanagement and inexperience were likely to be behind the 2010 crash of an Ethiopian airliner off Beirut, which claimed the lives of 90 passengers and crew members, according to the final investigation report announced Tuesday.
But Ethiopian Airlines dismissed the report as “biased” and “missing facts,” arguing that the plane exploded due to a possible act of sabotage.“ The investigation revealed that the probable causes of the accident were the flight crew’s mismanagement of the aircraft’s speed, altitude, headings and attitude through inconsistent flight control inputs resulting in a loss of control,” said the report, presented by Lebanese pilot Captain Mohammad Aziz during a news conference at the Civil Aviation Department. Transport and Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi addressed the conference as well.
According to the report, the flight crew failed to abide by Crew Resource Management principles of mutual support and calling deviations, which obstructed “any timely intervention and correction.”
At dawn on Jan. 25, 2010, Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 409, a Boeing 737-800 registered ET-ANB, crashed into the Mediterranean Sea less than five minutes after taking off from Beirut Rafik Hariri International Airport bound for Addis Ababa, killing all on board including 54 Lebanese.
An animation of the flight’s path was shown during the news conference, illustrating the plane’s movements in the few minutes following its departure. The report indicated that the pilot did not abide by several instructions given by the Air Traffic Control.
“As the aircraft was on a right turn, Control suggested to ET 409 to follow heading 270° ‘due to weather.’ However, ET 409 continued turning right beyond the [initial] selected heading of 315° and Control immediately instructed them to ‘turn left now heading 270°.’ ET 409 acknowledged the crew selected 270° on the MCP [Maintenance Control Panel] and initiated a left turn,” said the report.“ET 409 continued the left turn beyond the instructed/selected heading of 270° despite several calls from ATC to turn right heading 270° and acknowledgment from the crew. ET 409 reached a southerly track before sharply turning left until it disappeared from the radar screen and crashed into the sea at four minutes and 59 seconds,” it added.
The stormy weather, the time when the plane took off, the inexperience of the flight crew on the model, 737-800, a heavy meal that affected the crew’s sleep prior to the flight and the co-pilot hesitation to intervene were listed as factors contributing to “a case of loss of situation awareness similar to a subtle incapacitation” among the crew.
The report also noted that the captain’s performance could have been affected by chronic fatigue due to 188 hours of flying within 51 days on the new model of plane with minimum rest.
The report received a swift response by Desta Zeru, the vice president of flight operations for Ethiopian Airlines.
“The aircraft disintegrated in the air due to explosion, which could have been caused by a shoot-down, sabotage or a lightning strike,” he said in a statement.
Desta said the report was “biased, it’s missing facts, [it includes] hypotheses and conveniently excludes hard facts. We totally reject it.”
The Ethiopian official accused Lebanese authorities of omitting the majority of the wreckage from the investigation and said Lebanon “ignored crucial information,” such as security footage and autopsy records.
The final report dismissed the probability of an explosion.
It said no evidence of any explosion or fire were detected at the wreckage, when recovered or underwater. “No sign consistent with fire or explosion were detected during the autopsies carried on some of the bodies.”
“Furthermore, neither the CVR [Cockpit Voice Recorder] or the DFDR [Digital Flight Data Recorder] patterns reflect signs of an explosion or suggest an aircraft break-up as a result of such an explosion,” the report added.
The report was prepared by an investigation committee appointed by Aridi, which was comprised of representatives from Lebanon, Ethiopia, the United States, where the plane was manufactured, along with France, which provided advice to Lebanon. Aziz was appointed as the investigator in charge.
Prior to the announcement of the final draft, it was circulated to all the committee’s parties who offered their comments, which were then discussed. The Ethiopian party rejected the report’s findings although they were endorsed by all other committee members.
Ethiopians argue that there was no evidence that the co-pilot failed to act properly and dismiss the subtle incapacitation finding as “incorrect and inappropriate” and note that the flight entered a thunderstorm. But Aziz was adamant that the storm did not hit the plane, saying no sounds indicating such were recorded.
Aridi said that “we are now speaking about irrefutable evidence ... we are presenting the truth.” The minister noted that the Cabinet was not responsible for paying compensation, adding that an attempt to reach an agreement with families of victims had previously proven unsuccessful.
The 191-page report is available in full at www.lebcaa.com