UPDATE – Plane controls responsible for Ethiopia crash: Report

UPDATES WITH DETAILS OF FULL INVESTIGATION REPORT</p> <p>By Addis Getachew</p> <p>ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AA) – The &quot;controllability&quot; of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 was responsible for the aircraft’s crash just six minutes after takeoff from the country’s capital, according to a preliminary investigation on Thursday.</p> <p>A report on the probe was officially released in a press briefing by Ethiopian Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges, Accident Investigation Bureau Chief Amdeye Fanta and civil aviation authority head Wossenyeleh Hunegnaw.</p> <p>On March 10, Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET-302 involving Boeing 737 Max crashed shortly after taking off from Addis Ababa airport, killing all 157 on board. </p> <p>Underlining that the pilots had implemented all the &quot;right procedures&quot; before the crash, Dagmawit said the plane had gone out of control because of its maneuvering (MCAS) system that set it on autopilot and caused it to nosedive.</p> <p>&quot;The plane had valid certification, its pilots had the capability and licenses and the plane took off in the right direction and trajectory,&quot; she said.</p> <p>Ethiopia led the investigation that involved stakeholders including Ethiopia, the U.S. — as the country of design and manufacture — and other experts from around the world.</p> <p>According to Moges, 18 aviation and transport experts from the U.S., France and the EU and others were involved in the investigation, and there was &quot;no reservation on the report from anyone.&quot;</p> <p>The investigation, meanwhile, determined that the plane had not suffered damage from a &quot;foreign object&quot; causing the crash.</p> <p>It recommended that Boeing &quot;review the controllability system of the plane.&quot;</p> <p>A final report on the accident is expected to be released within one year, said Dagmawit.</p> <p>Meanwhile, Fanta said: &quot;There was no interference from anyone in the investigation. We got advice from the experts involved.&quot;</p> <p>Later on Thursday, the Accident Investigation Bureau published the full preliminary report that details the pre-impact circumstances. </p> <p>It said the pilots tried several times to pull the nose of the plane upward. </p> <p>According to the report, the plane was speeding at 952 kilometers (591.5 miles) per hour. </p> <p>No fire broke out while it was accelerating down, the report added.