Ethiopia Leads Black Box Data Analysis of Fight 302

March 23 , 2019

Ethiopia has begun analysing the black box data of Flight 302, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft that crashed near Ejere on March 10, 2019. A group composed of experts from the Accident Prevention & Investigation Bureau of Ethiopia, France’s Air Accident Investigation Agency and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency are tasked with analysing the data in Addis Abeba to determine the cause of the crash, according to the Ministry of Transport. “The group is analysing the content of the downloaded data from the Cockpit Voice Recorder and Flight Data Recorder of the black box,” the Ministry said in a statement. The crash took the life of all 157 people on board, including 149 passengers from 35 countries, the pilot, the co-pilot, five crew members and one security personnel. The Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft was on its way from Bole International Airport in Addis Abeba to Nairobi, Kenya on a scheduled flight when it crashed a few minutes after takeoff. The black box was found the day after the accident and was sent to France for analysis. The government first approached Germany to conduct the analysis, but Germany declined citing the incompatibility of their systems with Boeing’s software. After taking the black box to France, the group led by Amdeye Fenta (Col), head of the Accident Prevention & Investigation Bureau, returned to Addis with the data from the black box on Tuesday, March 19, 2019.