Black box recovered from scene as Ethiopian Airlines suspends use of Boeing planes

The black box from the Boeing 737 belonging to Ethiopian Airlines that crashed on Sunday has been retrieved according to the airline company.

In a post on their social media pages, Ethiopian Airlines confirmed retrieving the black box and that it would help in investigations into the cause of the accident.

“The Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder(CVR) of ET302 have been recovered,” the  airline posted on its social media pages.

The black box, also known as the digital flight data recorder records everything that goes on in the plane whereas the cockpit voice recorder that records what takes place within the cockpit(where the pilots sit) has also been recovered from the scene of the plane.

These are expected to give crucial clues to what could have caused the fatal Ethiopian Airlines aircraft crash.

The Ethiopian Airlines aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff from Adia Ababa en route to Nairobi on Sunday killing all the 149 passengers aboard and the eight member crew.

One Ugandan has been confirmed dead in the crash whereas Kenya with 32, had the largest number of nationals who died in the crash but the identities of the dead are yet to be released by authorities.

According to the Ethiopian Airlines CEO, Tewolde GebreMariam, the pilot of the Nairobi-bound Boeing 737 that crashed six minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa had alerted controllers “he had difficulties” and wanted to turn back the plane carrying 157 people.

“The pilot was given clearance to return to Addis,” Tewolde told journalists on Sunday.

Company suspends use of Boeing planes

Following the fatal crash, Ethiopian Airlines has announced suspension of the use of  all their six Boeing 737 aircrafts until further notice.

“Following the tragic accident of ET 02/10 March B 737-8 MAX(ET-AVJ), Ethiopian Airlines has decided to ground all B-737-8 MAX fleet effective yesterday  March 10,2019 until further notice.”

The company said, although they have not yet known the cause of the accident, they had to ground the fleet as an extra safety precaution.

“Ethiopian Airlines will release further information as soon as it is available, through the airline’s website and social media pages.”

On Monday, China, also announced grounding all 737 Max 8 aircrafts following a number of crashes including the recent one in Ethiopia in which 8 Chinese nationals were killed.

“Operation will only resume after confirming relevant measures to effectively ensure flight safety,” said the China Civil Aviation Administration in a statement.