‘Preliminary report on ET 737 Max crash out soon’

Preliminary report on the ill-fated Ethiopian Airline flight 302 which crashed on March 10 may be out before the end of this week or early next week, it has been learnt.

This is despite the fact that no concrete information has been discovered yet on the cause of the crash which has triggered global grounding of the 737 Max fleet as investigating authorities jointly probe one of the biggest aviation mysteries.

This is even as the American plane maker, Boeing plans global meeting with regulators and pilots in an effort to get the grounded 737 Max back in the sky. The meeting, it was learnt, was scheduled for today barring last minute change.

Boeing has embarked on software upgrade of the Max and updated pilot training manual to address issues with the 737 Max.

The planned briefing, according to a source privy to the development, is expected to address the global safety concerns in the aftermath of the March 10 Ethiopian crash which killed 157 people on board just about five months after a similar crash killed 189 people on Lion Air flight in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Ethiopian Airlines has affirmed its belief in Boeing despite the current challenge.

Group Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines, Tewolde GebreMariam, in a message said the crash brings a lasting pain for the airline.

GebreMariam said while investigation is still ongoing, the airline would give “full and transparent cooperation” to authorities “to discover what went wrong.”

But he clarified that its pilots went beyond the training recommended by Boeing and US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on the B-737 NG and B-737 Max.

GebreMariam said Boeing remains its long term partner. “They have been a partner of ours for many years. More than two-thirds of our fleet is Boeing”. “We resolve to work with Boeing and others to use this tragedy to make the skies safer for the world,” he said.