ADDIS ABABA – The head of Ethiopian Airlines is accusing Lebanese authorities of spreading misinformation about the cause of last month’s plane crash that killed 90 people.
Ethiopian Airlines Chief Executive Girma Wake says much of the information coming from Lebanon about the crash of flight ET409 has been purposely meant to mislead. The plane crashed into the sea moments after takeoff from Beirut in stormy weather in the early morning hours of January 25.
There has been no official statement about the cause of the mishap. But Lebanese news agencies have quoted government ministers and sources close to the probe saying pilot error was to blame.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Wake said those statements appear to be politically motivated.
“If you look at people who give out this information, these are people who are not part of the investigation,” said Girma Wake. “So they are politicians. And what would that tell you. I don’t want to guess why they do this, but I can see the sensitivity of the issue in Lebanon, so to calm down people they may say things, but is this the right track to follow. I don’t think that is the right way to go.”
There had been widespread reports at the time of the crash that the Boeing jetliner had exploded in mid-air, and had been seen falling into the sea in pieces. Wake suggested the comments by Lebanese ministers may have been an attempt to pre-empt speculation about terrorism.
“A lot of war has been going on in Lebanon, the whole area has been full of political turmoil,” he said. “Divisions within countries in the region. Because of that people can take their own wild guesses. The very fact it happened at Beirut airport at time when it is politically sensitive, does gives people to put their own thinking into it.”
Wake urged Lebanese authorities to back away from what he called ‘premature’ claims, or risk an international incident.
“It is not in line with what our two countries have signed for,” said Wake. “Are we out for a big war? I hope the investigators will put some sense into the investigation and come out with a proper working system, thereby avoiding a war between nations, between authorities, I’m hoping that may not be necessary, but we are not ready to accept a conclusion made without a proper analysis.”
Wake also disputed news reports about the last words of the pilot. Accounts widely circulated on the internet say the pilot could be heard on the cockpit voice recorder saying ‘We’re finished. God have mercy on us’.
The airline chief said investigators had declined to tell him what the recorder had revealed about the final moments of the ill-fated flight. But he said they assured him the quote had been fabricated.
Lebanese media reported this week that a team of accident investigators had returned to Beirut from Paris, where the flight recorders were taken for examination. The reports said preliminary conclusions had been presented to Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, and that a full report is likely to be made public next week.
(Bloomberg) – The head of Ethiopian Airlines said Lebanese politicians should stop speculating about the cause of the Jan. 25 crash of one of the company’s planes off Beirut or risk a “war” between the countries’ aviation officials.
Lebanese investigators should “put some sense into the investigation and come out with a proper working system, thereby avoiding a war between nations, between authorities,” Chief
Executive Officer Girma Wake said at a news conference today in Addis Ababa. “We are not ready to accept a conclusion that is made without a proper analysis.”
Girma criticized Lebanon’s health minister, Mohammed Jawad Khalifeh, and its transport minister, Ghazi al-Aridi, for their public statements about the crash. Khalifeh said Feb. 9 the
Boeing 737 had exploded in flight, scattering bodies over a wide area, Agence France-Presse reported. Al-Aridi said Lebanese air- traffic controllers told the Ethiopian pilot to change course shortly before the plane disappeared, CNN reported on Jan. 26.
The airline was due to receive a preliminary report today from Lebanese investigators on the cause of the crash, which killed 90 people. “What disturbs me is the fact that authorities come out with their own guesses every morning, sometimes contradicting themselves,” Girma told reporters. “What they say is misleading, deliberate or not.”
Flight ET409, bound for Addis Ababa, lost contact with air- traffic controllers in stormy weather minutes after a 2:35 a.m. takeoff from Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport.
Sabotage
The airline chief warned Lebanese officials not to politicize the findings of the report. “We hope some individuals, politicians, will not come out and talk as if there is a conclusive cause of the accident,” Girma said. “We want them to know that we will not accept playing with the report.”
Lebanese President Michel Suleiman said Jan. 25 there was no indication sabotage played a role in the crash, CNN reported. He also said terrorism wasn’t a factor. Girma said the state-owned airline hadn’t ruled out sabotage as a potential cause of the crash and dismissed statements by Lebanese officials. “Why do you rush to this conclusion if you are not afraid of something?” he said.
Instability in Lebanon had fueled speculation about the crash, Girma said. “A lot of war has been going on in Lebanon, the whole area has been full of political turmoil,” he said.
“Because of that people can take their own wild guesses.”
Lebanon has ruled out both ‘technical problems’ and ‘sabotage’ as cause for the tragedy that struck Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET409 off the coast of Beirut last month.
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)
