By Peace Udugba -The daily torch media
The first sign of trouble for a packed passenger plane was a simple message from the first officer reporting a “flight control problem.” Just over 10 minutes later, all 157 people on board were dead after the aircraft crashed.
The brand-new Boeing 737 MAX 8 had taken off from Runway 07R at Addis Ababa’s highland airport shortly after 8:30 a.m. on March 10, 2019. Within seconds of leaving the tarmac, it became clear that something was wrong. A fault in the plane’s fly-by-wire systems caused it to begin losing altitude.
Captain Yared Getachew, who was piloting the ill-fated Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, ordered his co-pilot to inform the control tower of the problem while he struggled to keep the aircraft stable.
First Officer Ahmed Mohammed quickly realized there was an issue with the Boeing’s Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), the controversial software later linked to two fatal plane crashes. He shouted, “Stab trim cut-out!”
The pilots immediately toggled the switches designed to disable the aircraft’s electrical trim system, which also deactivates the MCAS software.
However, the catastrophic failure of multiple systems soon overwhelmed the flight crew. Their attempts to manually adjust the plane’s stabilizers were unsuccessful. About three minutes into the flight, as the situation worsened rapidly, Captain Getachew instructed Mohammed to request permission from air traffic control to return to the airport.
Despite their efforts, the aircraft’s nose continued to pitch downward. Flight tracking data later showed the plane’s erratic loss of altitude was becoming more severe. Witnesses on the ground reported seeing the aircraft trailing “white smoke” and hearing unusual noises as it descended.
One local farmer who watched the aircraft plunge toward the earth recalled seeing small objects that “looked like paper” falling from the sky.
The final words captured on the cockpit voice recorder before the aircraft smashed into the ground at nearly 500 mph were a desperate plea: “Pitch up, pitch up!”
The plane crashed into a field about 30 miles from the airport. All 157 people on board were killed instantly.
The final descent was so steep that the aircraft virtually drilled into the ground before shattering into thousands of pieces. Rescue teams searching the area later said the crash site was so devastated that it was almost invisible from the air.
