Opinion | Questions raised after latest Boeing tragedy need quick answers
- The second fatal accident in less than five months involving the MAX 8 model has left 157 people dead, and crash investigators in Ethiopia must be transparent with their findings
China’s aviation authorities are understandably taking no chances with one of the world’s newest commercial passenger planes.
They were among the first to order domestic carriers to ground the Boeing 737 MAX 8 after eight nationals, including a Hongkonger, were among 157 people from at least 35 countries killed when an Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed minutes after take-off from Addis Ababa.
It was the second accident involving the model in less than five months, 189 having died when a Lion Air jet went down in similar circumstances off the main Indonesian island of Java. With investigations under way, a rush to judgment is unhelpful, but airlines and their customers have every right to put fears about safety first until the manufacturer can allay concerns.
There are similarities in the accidents, most noticeably that the planes plunged soon after take-off and both apparently had unstable vertical speed, suggesting pilots lost control. The captain of the Ethiopian jet was highly experienced and both he and his crew would have been aware of the problems highlighted by an interim investigation of the earlier tragedy.
Following that accident, it emerged the automatic systems on MAX jets forced their noses down in certain circumstances to prevent stalling, and Boeing called on airlines to ensure pilots were aware and knew how to override it.
Aircraft accident investigations take many months, sometimes years, to complete. They are the reason air travel is so safe, with problems that are identified being rectified to prevent reoccurrences.