United States air safety experts have criticized the Ethiopian government’s investigation into the Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed nearly 160 people in 2019, stating that it did not sufficiently consider crew training and emergency procedures.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) made these comments in response to the Ethiopian Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s (EAIB) draft report, but the EAIB failed to include the NTSB’s comments in its final report.
The NTSB provided the EAIB with expanded comments after the EAIB’s revised draft report still failed to address the NTSB’s concerns, as required by International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Annex 13. However, rather than integrating these comments or appending them to the final report as requested, the EAIB simply included a hyperlink to an outdated version of the NTSB’s comments. The NTSB also pointed out that the final report contained significant changes from the last draft provided to them.
As a result, the NTSB is currently reviewing the EAIB’s final report to determine if any further comments are necessary. The Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crash, involving a Boeing 737-800 MAX, occurred on March 10, 2019 and resulted in the deaths of all 157 people on board.
The NTSB’s comments are available online.