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March 11, 2019: Airplane engine parts are seen at the crash site of Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 near Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa.
Tiksa Negeri/Reuters
The latest
- Ethiopian Airlines crew followed all of Boeing’s recommended procedures for the 737 Max 8 that crashed last month and killed 157 people, but they were "not able to control the aircraft” and stop its nose from diving, Ethiopia’s Transport Minister said Thursday.
- Investigators released a summary of their preliminary findings, the first official word about what happened when the plane took off from Addis Ababa on March 10 and crashed minutes later. The minister described “repetitive uncommanded aircraft nose-down conditions,” a factor also present in a deadly Lion Air crash in Indonesia last October.
- The Ethiopian crash prompted airlines around the world – including Canada, several of whose citizens were killed on board – to ground one of the most popular Boeing plane models. Air Canada, the largest Canadian buyer of Max 8s, is putting off the launch of new seasonal routes this spring as it juggles its existing fleet to handle certain routes.
What happened on March 10: a timeline
(All times local)
Ethiopians Airlines flight ET302 crashed
shortly after takeoff
0
250
YEMEN
KM
ETHIOPIA
SUDAN
Addis Ababa
Bole Int’l Airport
Departed 8:38 a.m. local time
DJIBOUTI
Intended path*
Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed near Ejere, Ethiopia, killing all 157 on board including 18 Canadians
SOUTH
SUDAN
SOMALIA
UGANDA
KENYA
Detail
Nairobi
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
0
2,000
KM
*Approximate path.
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: TILEZEN;
OPENSTREETMAP CONTRIBUTORS; HIU; WIRES
Ethiopians Airlines flight ET302 crashed
shortly after takeoff
ERITREA
0
250
Red
Sea
YEMEN
KM
ETHIOPIA
SUDAN
DJIBOUTI
Addis Ababa
Bole Int’l Airport
Departed 8:38 a.m. local time
Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed near Ejere, Ethiopia, killing all 157 on board including 18 Canadians
Intended path*
SOUTH
SUDAN
SOMALIA
UGANDA
KENYA
Detail
Lake
Victoria
Nairobi
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
0
2,000
KM
TANZANIA
*Approximate path.
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: TILEZEN; OPENSTREETMAP
CONTRIBUTORS; HIU; WIRES
Ethiopians Airlines flight ET302 crashed shortly after takeoff
ERITREA
0
250
Red Sea
KM
SUDAN
YEMEN
ETHIOPIA
Gulf of Aden
DJIBOUTI
Addis Ababa
Bole Int’l Airport
Departed 8:38 a.m. local time
SOMALIA
Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed near Ejere, Ethiopia, killing all 157 on board including 18 Canadians
Intended path*
SOUTH
SUDAN
UGANDA
KENYA
Detail
Lake
Victoria
Nairobi
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
0
2,000
KM
TANZANIA
*Approximate path.
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: TILEZEN; OPENSTREETMAP CONTRIBUTORS; HIU; WIRES
8:38 a.m.: Flight ET 302 takes off from Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital. Records shared by Flightradar24 show that the plane’s vertical speed quickly becomes erratic. Shortly after, the pilot issues a distress call and is told to return.
ALTITUDE OF AIRCRAFT
Feet
10,000
8:41 a.m.
received data
9,000
8,000
Departs at
8:38 a.m.
7,000
Note: All times local.
VERTICAL SPEED
The rate of climb or descent, feet per minute
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
-1,000
-2,000
-3,000
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALTITUDE OF AIRCRAFT
Feet
10,000
8:41 a.m.
received data
9,000
8,000
Departs at
8:38 a.m.
7,000
Note: All times local.
VERTICAL SPEED
The rate of climb or descent, feet per minute
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
-1,000
-2,000
-3,000
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALTITUDE OF AIRCRAFT
Feet
10,000
8:41 a.m.
received data
9,000
8,000
Departs at
8:38 a.m.
7,000
Note: All times local.
VERTICAL SPEED
The rate of climb or descent, feet per minute
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
-1,000
-2,000
-3,000
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
8:44 a.m.: Six minutes after takeoff, contact with the plane is lost as it falls toward the ground some 50 kilometres outside Addis Ababa. Witnesses interviewed by Reuters describe the plane giving off strange noises and trailing smoke and debris before it passes over a field of panicked cows, and then crashes. “It was a loud rattling sound. Like straining and shaking metal,” said Turn Buzuna, a 26-year-old farmer who lives about 300 metres from the crash site.
10:48 a.m.: The first word of the crash comes in a Twitter post from the office of Ethiopia’s Prime Minister.
The Office of the PM, on behalf of the Government and people of Ethiopia, would like to express it’s deepest condolences to the families of those that have lost their loved ones on Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 on regular scheduled flight to Nairobi, Kenya this morning.
— Office of the Prime Minister - Ethiopia (@PMEthiopia) March 10, 2019
11:15 a.m.: Ethiopian Airlines says it believes 149 passengers and eight crew members were on board the plane that crashed near Bishoftu.
1:35 p.m.: Ethiopia’s state broadcaster reports that all passengers are dead.
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Canadian victims of the Ethiopian air crash include Amina Ibrahim Odowa and her five-year-old daughter Sofia Faisal Abdulkadir; Professor Pius Adesanmi; Peter de Marsh and Derick Lwugi.
Family handout; Carleton University; Internal Family Forestry Alliance; Facebook
The Canadian victims
Most of those on board the flight were Kenyans, according to the airline’s list of the travellers’ nationalities. The dead included soccer officials, law students, the wife and two children of a Slovakian lawmaker, Austrian doctors and an Irish engineer. Here’s what we know about the Canadian passengers who were killed.
Prof. Pius Adesanmi
A professor at Ottawa’s Carleton University professor was among the first Canadian victims to be identified, with the university announcing that Global Affairs Canada confirmed he was among the dead. Prof. Adesanmi was a professor in Carleton’s English department and was the director of the university’s Institute of African Studies. “Pius was a towering figure in African and post-colonial scholarship and his sudden loss is a tragedy,” said Benoit-Antoine Bacon, Carleton University president and vice-chancellor.
Amina Ibrahim Odowa and Sofia Faisal Abdulkadir
An Edmonton woman and her five-year-old daughter were also killed. Ms. Odowa’s brother Mohamed Ali, who lives in Toronto, said the two had been travelling to Nairobi to visit family. Mr. Ali said he and his sister and their family had immigrated to Canada from Somalia via Kenya in 2006. Here, Ms. Odowa, 33, had three daughters, ages 3, 5, and 7. Only the middle child, Sofia – who would have turned six this summer – was on the flight with her.
Danielle Moore
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Danielle Moore, Micah Messent and Angela Rehhorn were all going to a UN environment summit in Nairobi when the plane crashed.
Instagram/UNA
The 24-year-old marine biology student from Winnipeg had posted on Facebook Saturday that she was “so excited” and “beyond privileged” to announce she had been selected to attend the United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi. On Twitter, she added that she looked forward to sharing what she learned at the conference with her followers. But that was her final tweet. Reached by phone at the family’s home in Scarborough Sunday, Ms. Moore’s father said they were still in shock. “She had a whole life ahead of her. We miss her deeply.”
Angela Rehhorn
Angela. Rehhorn, 24, who had a degree in marine biology from Dalhousie University, was a member of the Canadian Conservation Corps (CCC) at the Canadian Wildlife Federation, a program training future conservationists. “Angela was full of excitement and optimism of youth, just waiting to change the world. She was an inspiration,” said the federation’s chief executive, Rick Bates.
Micah Messent
Micah Messent, a member of the Red River Métis Nation in Manitoba, grew up in British Columbia’s Comox Valley. He worked for BC Parks and planned to go to law school.
Derick Lwugi
A senior financial accountant with the City of Calgary and the past president of the Calgary-Kenya association, Mr. Lwugi and his wife, Gladys, have three children. Mr. Lwugi, who had immigrated to Calgary from Kenya 15 years ago, was travelling back to Nairobi to visit his parents and his in-laws. His mother had not been feeling well. “He loved people,” Gladys said. “If people had any needs or problems, he was there to, you know, organize people around that family or whatever they needed.”
Peter DeMarsh
Hailing from Taymouth, N.B., Mr. DeMarsh was president of the International Family Forestry Alliance. On Twitter, Dominic Walubengo, director of Kenya’s Forest Action Network, called Mr. DeMarsh a “dear friend," adding that he was bound for Nairobi to attend a conference on climate change and family-owned forests.
Jessica Hyba
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Jessica Hyba was senior external relations officer for the UNHCR.
handout
Jessica Hyba, 43, who had just started a posting last month in Somalia as a senior external relations officer for the UN High Commission for Refugees, was among the dead. A mother of two daughters, aged 9 and 12, Ms. Hyba had just spent seven years in the Middle East for the UNHCR and the NGO Care, making forays into refugee camps in Iraq. “She worked some of the worst duty stations on the planet,” said a friend, Kyle Matthews, the executive director of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies at Concordia University.
The Dixit and Vaidya families
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Prerit Dixit and Kosha Vaidya, with their two daughters Anushka and Ashka Dixit.
HANDOUT
Three generations of one Brampton, Ont., family were among the dead: Pannagesh and Hansini Vaidya, 73 and 67; their daughter Kosha Vaidya, 37; her husband Prerit Dixit, 43; and their daughters Anushka and Ashka Dixit, 13 and 14. They were on a March break trip to Kenya, Kosha Vaidya’s birthplace, a family member told The Globe and Mail. Peel District School Board, where the teenage Dixit girls studied, said the tragedy “has brought great sadness to the students and staff.” The grandparents, Pannagesh and Hansini Vaidya, were permanent residents of Canada.
Stéphanie Lacroix
Stéphanie Lacroix, a 25-year-old project coordinator with United Nations Association in Canada, was one of four young delegates on board to the UN Environment Assembly gathering in Nairobi. A Franco-Ontarian from Timmins, Ont., Ms. Lacroix wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a school teacher but an internship with the NGO Stepping Stones International changed her outlook. She had worked in Malawi for World University Service of Canada.
Darcy Belanger
Mr. Belanger was another Canadian bound for the Nairobi conference. He was working as U.S. director of professional development for Denver-based PCL Construction, according to his LinkedIn page.
Rubi Pauls
A nine-month-old baby was among the Canadians killed, her grandfather, Quindos Karanja, told The Canadian Press. He said baby Rubi was travelling with her mother Carolyne Karanja 34; siblings Ryan and Kerri, 7 and 4; and her grandmother Ann Wangui Karanja, 60. Rubi was the only Canadian citizen in the family. Mr. Karanja said they were travelling back to Kenya after a visit to Ontario.
Dawn Tanner
An Ontario high school teacher with a passion for volunteering, Ms. Tanner was on her way to visit friends in Kenya. She worked with the Grand Erie District School Board as the department head of special education at the Hagersville Secondary School, near Hamilton. Cody French said his mother had previously done community work in small villages.
Ameen Noormohamed
A Toronto Muslim organization has identified the 72-year-old member of their community as a victim of Sunday’s plane crash in Ethiopia. The centre says Noormohamed lived in the Toronto area. It says his family members are currently in Kenya making funeral arrangements.
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March 11: The United Nations flag flies at half-mast in Geneva in memory of the victims of Ethiopian Airlines crash.
DENIS BALIBOUSE/Reuters
Victims from the global aid community
The plane’s departure point and destination – Addis Ababa and Nairobi – are hubs for humanitarian workers, several of whom were among the dead. The crash came just ahead of the United Nations Environment Assembly, which opened as planned on Monday after a moment of silence for the victims.
Officials from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Food Programme confirmed in statements that staff members from those agencies and other UN partners had been on the flight. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres released a statement on Twitter, saying he was deeply saddened by the news.
Deeply saddened by the news this morning of the plane crash in Ethiopia, claiming the lives of all on board. My heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of all the victims — including our own @UN staff — who perished in this tragedy.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) March 10, 2019
What we know about the plane
THE BOEING 737 MAX 8
Length: 39.52 metres
Some other specifications:
Range: 6,570 kilometres
Wingspan: 35.9 metres
Maximum seats: 210
Engine: LEAP-1B from CFM International
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCES: GRAPHIC NEWS, BOEING
THE BOEING 737 MAX 8
Length: 39.52 metres
Some other specifications:
Range: 6,570 kilometres
Wingspan: 35.9 metres
Maximum seats: 210
Engine: LEAP-1B from CFM International
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCES: GRAPHIC NEWS, BOEING
THE BOEING 737 MAX 8
Length: 39.52 metres
Some other specifications:
Range: 6,570 kilometres
Wingspan: 35.9 metres
Maximum seats: 210
Engine: LEAP-1B from CFM International
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCES: GRAPHIC NEWS, BOEING
The model: The crash has put new scrutiny on the Boeing 737 Max 8, a new model introduced in 2017. The Ethiopian Airlines plane had been delivered new last November and was in service for four months before the crash. Driven by orders from Air Canada, WestJet Airlines Ltd. and other carriers, the Max 8 is the fastest-selling aircraft in Boeing’s history, the company said: The plane that crashed in Ethiopia had been delivered new last November, and was in service for four months. While the Max 8 is considered one of the industry’s most reliable planes, the crash has raised questions about its flight-control system, called MCAS, which pushes the nose of the plane down if the system senses conditions likely to cause a stall. Pilots unfamiliar with how MCAS works could run into difficulties during takeoff.
update on the way
Boeing has said that it has developed an
update to its automated anti-stall system called the
Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation
System (MCAS)
MCAS is designed to prevent a stall, the loss of lift
that occurs when too little air is moving over the
wings. It was implemented to address the jet’s
changed balance after the planemaker installed
larger engines and moved them forward on its
new Max series aircraft.
How Boeing’s anti-stall sensor works
When the nose is level...
The angle of attack (AOA) sensor, which measures the
angle between the airflow and the wing, align with
oncoming airflow. The sensor tells MCAS when the wings
are losing airflow because the plane’s nose
is pointed too high.
Airflow
AOA sensor
When the nose is elevated...
The angle of attack rises and when it becomes too high,
the anti-stall system activates. MCAS then tilts the
horizontal stabilizer in the tail of the aircraft to
force the plane’s nose down restore airflow.
Horizontal
stabilizer
what’s new in the update
AOA sensor agreement
Unlike before, the flight control system will now
compare data from both AOA sensors. If there is a
discrepancy of more than 5.5 degrees between the
two with flaps retracted...
Both AOA sensors
5.5˚
Warning light
...the MCAS will not activate and a warning will
appear in front of the pilots on their Primary Flight
Display (PFD) instrument panel.
Primary Flight Display
Warning light
Manual control
The updated MCAS will only be able to
make one automated control input for
each elevated angle of attack event.
MCAS will not be able to move the
stabilizer more than can be counter
acted manually by the pilots.
The flight crew will still be able to re-take
manual control of the aircraft by using
inputs to the flight controls.
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: boeing; reuters;
graphic news
update on the way
Boeing has said that it has developed an
update to its automated anti-stall system called the
Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation
System (MCAS)
MCAS is designed to prevent a stall, the loss of lift
that occurs when too little air is moving over the
wings. It was implemented to address the jet’s
changed balance after the planemaker installed
larger engines and moved them forward on its
new Max series aircraft.
How Boeing’s anti-stall sensor works
When the nose is level...
The angle of attack (AOA) sensor, which measures the
angle between the airflow and the wing, align with
oncoming airflow. The sensor tells MCAS when the wings
are losing airflow because the plane’s nose
is pointed too high.
Airflow
AOA sensor
When the nose is elevated...
The angle of attack rises and when it becomes too high,
the anti-stall system activates. MCAS then tilts the
horizontal stabilizer in the tail of the aircraft to
force the plane’s nose down restore airflow.
Horizontal
stabilizer
what’s new in the update
AOA sensor agreement
Unlike before, the flight control system will now
compare data from both AOA sensors. If there is a
discrepancy of more than 5.5 degrees between the
two with flaps retracted...
Both AOA sensors
5.5˚
Warning light
...the MCAS will not activate and a warning will
appear in front of the pilots on their Primary Flight
Display (PFD) instrument panel.
Primary Flight Display
Warning light
Manual control
The updated MCAS will only be able to
make one automated control input for
each elevated angle of attack event.
MCAS will not be able to move the
stabilizer more than can be counter-
acted manually by the pilots.
The flight crew will still be able to re-take
manual control of the aircraft by using
inputs to the flight controls.
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: boeing; reuters;
graphic news
update on the way
Boeing has said that it has developed an update to its automated anti-stall
system called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS)
MCAS is designed to prevent a stall, the loss of lift that occurs when too little air is
moving over the wings. It was implemented to address the jet’s changed balance after
the planemaker installed larger engines and moved them forward on its new Max
series aircraft.
How Boeing’s anti-stall sensor works
When the nose is level...
When the nose is elevated...
The angle of attack (AOA) sensor, which
measures the angle between the airflow
and the wing, align with oncoming airflow.
The sensor tells MCAS when the wings are
osing airflow because the plane’s nose
is pointed too high.
The angle of attack rises and when it
becomes too high, the anti-stall system
activates. MCAS then tilts the horizontal
stabilizer in the tail of the aircraft to
force the plane’s nose down
restore airflow.
Airflow
Horizontal
stabilizer
AOA sensor
what’s new in the update
AOA sensor agreement
Warning light
Unlike before, the flight control system will
now compare data from both AOA sensors. If
there is a discrepancy of more than 5.5 degrees
between the two with flaps retracted...
...the MCAS will not activate and a
warning will appear in front of the
pilots on their Primary Flight Display
(PFD) instrument panel.
Both AOA sensors
Primary Flight Display
5.5˚
Warning light
Manual control
The updated
MCAS will only
be able to make
one automated
control input for
each elevated
angle of attack
event.
MCAS will not
be able to
move the
stabilizer more
than can be
counteracted
manually by
the pilots.
The flight crew
will still be able
to re-take
manual control of
the aircraft by
using inputs to
the flight controls.
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: boeing; reuters; graphic news
The Indonesian crash: The Ethiopian plane is the same model as a Lion Air flight that crashed in Indonesia last October, killing all 189 people on board That crash took place 13 minutes after takeoff, killing all 189 people on board. In their preliminary report, Indonesian investigators found there were several technical problems recorded in the plane’s maintenance log in the days before the crash: Airspeed and altitude displays contained errors, and a sensor that measures the wing angle was replaced a day before the crash. In the flight before the fatal crash, the crew reported instrument failures caused control problems. Officials and analysts said it was too early to tell if there was any direct connection between what happened to the Lion Air plane and the Ethiopian Airlines plane.
ground altitude
In feet
6,000
Lion Air Flight 610
4,000
Both planes appear to have
lost altitude in the first few
minutes of their flights
2,000
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302
0
0
200
400
600
SECONDS SINCE TAKEOFF
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: reuters
ground altitude
In feet
6,000
Lion Air Flight 610
4,000
Both planes appear to have
lost altitude in the first few
minutes of their flights
2,000
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302
0
0
200
400
600
SECONDS SINCE TAKEOFF
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: reuters
ground altitude
In feet
6,000
Lion Air Flight 610
4,000
Both planes appear to have
lost altitude in the first few
minutes of their flights
2,000
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302
0
0
200
400
600
SECONDS SINCE TAKEOFF
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: reuters
What Boeing is doing: With global confidence in its planes faltering, Boeing worked to issue a software update to the Max 8′s automated systems to address concerns about safety. The company had already been working on an update after the Lion Air crash. The U.S. Federal Aviation Industry says it expects to approve the software changes no later than April.
What airlines are doing: In the weeks since the crash, most of the world’s airlines and national aviation regulators grounded their Max 8s and barred the plane from entering, leaving or flying over their airspace. Here’s a guide to the cancellations so far.
Compiled by Globe staff
Associated Press, Reuters and The Canadian Press, with reports from Michelle Zilio, Geoffrey York, Molly Hayes, Janice Dickson and Eric Atkins
(March 13, 2019) An earlier version of this article used incorrect names for two Canadian victims. Amina Ibrahim Odowa was incorrectly identified with the surname Odowaa. Her daughter Sofia was incorrectly identified as Safiya.