Ethiopian Airlines CEO: Pilot had told ATC that they had 'flight control problems' before the crash
In an interview to CNN, Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde GebreMariam spoke about the crash and the issues that the pilot was reportedly having before the crash. "The pilot reported flight control problems, so he was having difficulties with the flight control of the aeroplane, so he asked to return back to base and clearance was given to him. That was at 8.44am where at the same time the aeroplane disappeared from the radar”.
He also spoke about whether he believes there should be a worldwide ban on Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes:
“Although we don’t yet know the exact cause of the accident, speculation is not helpful in either way, but I think there are questions without answers on the aeroplane”.
Talking about the similarities between this crash and the Lion Air Flight 610 crash in Indonesia, GebreMariam said, "We believe the similarities are substantial, there was the same aeroplane model, brand new aeroplane and the flights were very short. I think 8mins in the case of Lion Air and 6mins flight in our case and the fact that the other countries are also now raising questions on the aeroplane shows there are very significant similarities on the two accidents. And also, two major accidents on the same aeroplane model, brand new aeroplane model in 6 months. So, there are a lot of questions to be answered”.
He also spoke about the analysis of the black boxes and their data,"We are going to send them outside of Ethiopia because we don’t have the equipment here and that is going to be decided by the accident investigation bureau under the ministry of transport in Ethiopia and of course with the cooperation of the aircraft manufacturer, the country of aircraft manufacturing which is the United States and designated by NTSB”
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