Beirut says technical error is not a factor because a finding of the flight data recorder (FDR) – which records specific aircraft parameters like engine performance, speed, altitude – supports the claim.
Ethiopia also rules out any technical error because a December 25 maintenance report verifies the jet had no problems.
If both sides agree that a ‘technical problem’ is not the cause for the crash, then what is it?
Lebanon points its finger at ‘pilot error.’ Does it have evidence? There lies the problem.
To establish the cause of the crash as ‘pilot error,’ the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) – the device that records crew conversation as well as pilot communication with air traffic controllers – should be recovered, and its data analysed.
Has Lebanon found the device? On Wednesday February 10, Lebanon said it recovered the second black box. It also reported the ‘voice recording device’ was missing.
In other words, what Lebanon recovered from the sea was the metal gear that shields the digital recording device from being destroyed upon impact – crash or explosion.
The recovery of CVR is crucial to determine what was the last conversation between the Ethiopian crew and the Lebanese air traffic controllers – who are the authority to clear any plane for landing, take-off, or delay the flight in case of hazardous weather conditions like the thunderstorm that had engulfed Beirut on January 25 last month.
Lebanon found an empty box but used the occasion to once again raise the issue of ‘pilot error.’ But the following two critical facts render the Lebanese allegation ineffective:
The airplane plunged into the sea as a ball of fire.
Flight ET409 captain was Habtamu Benti, a 42-year-old veteran who had over 20 years of experience under his belt (He was no novice to commit a deadly turn as Lebanon alleged).
Beirut has from day one adopted a two-pronged approach to build up the ‘guilty-image’ upon Ethiopian Airlines: while one Lebanese minister blames a ‘pilot error’ for the crash, another Lebanese minister pops up as a ‘damage-control’ factor, and says it is too early to determine what caused the crash.
Ethiopian Airlines in the meantime is seen struggling to stave off the negative publicity that is threatening to tarnish its long-standing good image. In fact, Ethiopian Airlines is saying Flight ET409 may have been the victim of a foul play.
Was a time-bomb planted on the plane blew it to pieces? Or a missile fired from one of the hills of Lebanon knocked the airliner off the sky? Questions are being asked.
Media reports implicate the Lebanese Hezbollah for the mid-air explosion.
Hezbollah denied the al-Liwaa report as baseless, according to a statement via the group’s al-Manar News Agency.
In the midst of this confusion, one question stands out prominently: Why are Lebanese officials blaming ‘pilot error’ although that depends on finding the crucial device – CVR – which is still missing in the sea, and no one knows whether it would be recovered anytime soon, or ever.
So far, what is known to the public constitutes the tip of the iceberg. It is the beginning of what could be an arduous journey.
“This was an al-Qaeda operation timed for one month to the day after its [al-Qaeda’s] failed attempt to destroy an American Northwest airliner bound for Detroit. It is becoming clear that either a bomb was planted on the Ethiopian flight with a timer or a passenger acted as suicide bomber,” according to a report on DebkaFile.
—- (Abraha Belai is founding editor of Ethiomedia.com)
Lebanese minister rules out bomb on Ethiopian jet
By Bassem Mroue, The Associated Press, February 11, 2010
BEIRUT – The cause of last month’s Ethiopian Airlines crash into the Mediterranean appears to be neither a technical problem nor an explosion, a top Lebanese official said Thursday, without elaborating on what it actually could be.
The Boeing 737 crashed on Jan. 25, just minutes after takeoff from Beirut during a fierce thunderstorm. All 90 people on board died.
Asked whether the reason behind the “catastrophe” was a pilot error, Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi said that no final conclusion could be reached until the cockpit voice recorder, retrieved Wednesday, is analyzed. He said the recorder is still missing a key part and divers are searching for it.
He said the data flight recorder, that was found on Sunday and sent to France for analysis, registered “information and is documented second by second.”
His comments came a day after Ethiopian Airlines said in a statement it had not ruled out the possibility of sabotage but that it was “too early to conclude the cause” of the crash.
Within hours of the crash, Lebanese officials had said there was no indication of terrorism or sabotage on board Flight 409, which was headed for the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
“From the technical side, all the plane’s systems were functioning properly until the moment of the crash,” Aridi told reporters. “An explosion is ruled out.”
A day after the crash, Aridi said the plane’s pilot made a “fast and strange turn” minutes after takeoff from Beirut. He added then that the plane flew in the opposite direction from the path recommended by the control tower after taking off in stormy weather.
Days later, weather experts said lightning had struck in the plane’s path around the time of the deadly crash.
The crash prompted a search and rescue operation that included U.N. peacekeepers, and U.S. and Lebanese navies. DNA samples were collected from relatives of the victims in Lebanon, Ethiopia and other countries to help identify bodies pulled out of the sea.
The black boxes are being analyzed by BEA, a French agency that specializes in assisting with technical investigations of air crashes.
