Spokesman Germout Freitag, with Germany’s Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation, told the Associated Press that the agency was asked by Ethiopian authorities to analyze the black boxes, but declined because it lacked the necessary software to do the analysis.
The Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority is expected to announce which country they will be sending the Boeing 737 Max 8’s black boxes for analysis on Wednesday. Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde GebreMariam told The Wall Street Journal that the U.K., France, and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency were now being considered.
Although the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board has pushed to have its own experts examine the flight data and voice recorders, which were apparently “partly damaged,” according to the WSJ, Ethiopian authorities would prefer to have the U.K.’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch to ensure that U.S. experts won’t have undue influence in the probe of the American-made plane, according to Fortune.
The world is now waiting for an answer – making the analysis of the data and voice recorders that much more important. Airlines in every country in the world have now grounded the Boeing 737 Max, except in the United States. Three airlines in the U.S. fly the Boeing 737 Max 8, including American Airlines and Southwest Airlines. United Airlines operates the Max 9, a longer version of the Max 8.
At least four pilots made reports following the October crash of a Lion Air flight in Indonesia shortly after takeoff, all complaining that the aircraft suddenly pitched downward, according to documents reviewed by AFP on a flight safety database.
The incidents seem to involve the flight stabilization system designed to prevent the aircraft from stalling, the “MCAS,” which was implicated in the fatal accident in the Lion Air crash that killed 189 people shortly after takeoff.
