In a news conference in Addis Ababa, Ms Dagmawit (Ethiop.Transport Minister) said: "The crew performed all the procedures repeatedly [that were] provided by the manufacturer but were not able to control the aircraft." Her comments were based on a preliminary report into the crash, which has not been published yet, but could be released by the end of the week.
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The preliminary report said:
- The aircraft had a valid certificate of air worthiness.*
- The crew had a licence and qualifications to conduct the flight.*
- The takeoff appeared very normal.*
- Pilots performed the necessary procedures, as provided by the manufacturer, "repeatedly" to bring the flight under control.But was not able to control the aircraft.*
- Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 experienced “repetitive uncommanded aircraft nose-down conditions” which "continued for the remainder of the flight” before the crash.
- Boeing urged to review aircraft flight control system relating to control of the plane by accident investigators.
[Note A0283 - the lines with an asterix * were the literal words used by her during the press conference.]
The Ethiopian authorities did not attribute blame in their preliminary report and did not give detailed analysis of the flight.
Following the Ethiopian disaster, Max jets have been grounded worldwide pending a software fix that Boeing is rolling out, which must still receive approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other regulators.
Boeing is now being investigated by the US Justice Department, the Transportation Department's inspector general, and congressional committees.
Investigations are also looking into the role of the Federal Aviation Administration in the US, which certified the Max in 2017 and refused to ground the jets after the crash back in October.
The FAA said in a statement it was continuing to work towards understanding what happened.