Ethiopian Airlines

Boeing 777-200

Parked at position 306 at Shanghai-Pudong Airport, the aircraft was prepared for a cargo service to Santiago de Chile with intermediate stops in Addis Ababa and São Paulo, when a fire erupted in the cargo compartment. The aircraft was partially destroyed by fire and damaged beyond repair. No one was injured.

Boeing 737 MAX 8

On March 10, 2019, at 05:38 UTC, Ethiopian Airlines flight 302, Boeing 737-8(MAX), ET-AVJ, took off from Addis Ababa Bole Int. Airport bound to Nairobi, Kenya Jomo Kenyatta Int. Airport. Shortly after takeoff, the Angle of Attack sensor recorded value became erroneous and the left stick shaker activated and remained active until near the end of the flight. In addition, the airspeed and altitude values from the left air data system began deviating from the corresponding right side values. Due to flight control problems, the Captain was unable to maintain the flight path and requested to return back to the departure airport. The crew lost control of the aircraft which crashed at 5: 44 UTC 28 NM South East of Addis Ababa near Ejere village. Both CVR and DFDR were recovered in the morning of March 11. The Boeing 737 MAX was grounded until the end of 2020. A preliminary report is available below.

De Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter

The twin engine airplane departed Dire Dawa in the morning on a flight to Harar Meda Airbase located in Debre Zeit, carrying 15 Army officers and three civilians on behalf of the Ethiopian Army. While descending to Harar Meda, the airplane crashed in unknown circumstances in a wooded area located in Mojo, some 17 km southeast of the airfield. The aircraft was totally destroyed and all 18 occupants were killed, among them two children. Operated on behalf of the Ethiopian Army with dual registration ET-AIU/808.

De Havilland DHC-8-400 (Dash-8)

During the takeoff roll from runway 15/33 at Dire Dawa-Aba Tenna Dejazmach Yilma Airport, the aircraft collided with wild animals. The captaint abandoned the takeoff procedure and initiated an emergency braking manoeuvre when the aircraft veered off runway and came to rest. All 80 occupants evacuated safely and the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Boeing 737-400

Following an uneventful cargo flight from Lomé, the crew initiated the approach to Accra-Kotoka Airport. The visibility was reduced due to foggy conditions. After touchdown on runway 03, the aircraft became uncontrollable and veered off runway to the right. While contacting soft ground, it lost its undercarriage and its right engine before coming to rest in a grassy area. All three crew crew members escaped with minor injuries and the aircraft was destroyed.

Boeing 737-800

On 25 January 2010, at 00:41:30 UTC, Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 409, a Boeing 737-800 registered ET-ANB, crashed into the Mediterranean Sea about 5 NM South West of Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport (BRHIA), Beirut, Lebanon. ET 409 was being operated under the provisions of the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Regulations (ECAR) and as a scheduled international flight between BRHIA and Addis Ababa Bole International Airport (ADD) - Ethiopia. It departed Beirut with 90 persons on board: 2 flight crew (a Captain and a First Officer), 5 cabin crew, an IFSO and 82 regular passengers. The flight departed at night on an instrument flight plan. Low clouds, isolated cumulonimbus (CB) and thunderstorms were reported in the area. The flight was initially cleared by ATC on a LATEB 1 D departure then the clearance was changed before take-off to an “immediate right turn direct Chekka”. After take-off ATC (Tower) instructed ET 409 to turn right on a heading of 315°. ET 409 acknowledged and heading 315° was selected on the Mode Control Panel (MCP). As the aircraft was on a right turn, Control suggested to ET 409 to follow heading 270° “due to weather”. However, ET 409 continued right turn beyond the selected heading of 315° and Control immediately instructed them to “turn left now heading 270°”. ET 409 acknowledged, the crew selected 270° on the MCP and initiated a left turn. ET 409 continued the left turn beyond the instructed/selected heading of 270° despite several calls from ATC to turn right heading 270° and acknowledgment from the crew. ET 409 reached a southerly track before sharply turning left until it disappeared from the radar screen and crashed into the sea 4<U+201F> 59” after the initiation of the take-off roll (4<U+201F>17” in the air). The aircraft impacted the water surface around 5 NM South West of BRHIA and all occupants were fatally injured. Search and Rescue (S&R) operations were immediately initiated. The DFDR and CVR were retrieved from the sea bed and were read, as per the Lebanese Government decision, at the BEA facility at Le Bourget, France. The recorders data revealed that ET 409 encountered during flight two stick shakers for a period of 27” and 26”. They also recorded 11 “Bank Angle” aural warnings at different times during the flight and an over-speed clacker towards the end of the flight. The maximum recorded AOA was 32°, maximum recorded bank angle was 118° left, maximum recorded speed was 407.5 knots, maximum recorded G load was 4.76 and maximum recorded nose down pitch value 63.1°. The DFDR recording stopped at 00:41:28 with the aircraft at 1291<U+201F>. The last radar screen recording was at 00:41:28 with the aircraft at 1300<U+201F>. The last CVR recording was a loud noise just prior to 00:41:30.

Boeing 767-200

Ethiopian Airlines flight ET961 had taken off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at 08:09 hours UTC for a scheduled flight to Abidjan, Ivory Coast via Nairobi, Kenya; Brazzaville, Congo; and Lagos, Nigeria. Twenty minutes after takeoff, at about 08:29 UTC, one passenger stood up from his seat and ran up the aisle to the cockpit, and two other passengers followed him heading for the cockpit. While rushing to the cockpit one of the men said "Everybody should be seated, I have a bomb!". Then they opened the cockpit door and stormed in. They declared to the pilots that there were eleven hijackers on board and beat the First Officer and forced him out of the cockpit. They then grabbed the fire axe and fire extinguisher bottle from their respective stowages and ordered the pilot-in-command to change direction and fly to Australia. The pilot-in-command explained to the hijackers that he had not enough fuel to reach Australia and demanded to make a refueling stop at Mombasa. The hijackers refused the refueling stop and continued arguing with the pilot-in-command. They insisted that they had learned from the inflight magazine that the B767 could fly 11 hours without refueling. After passing Dar es Salaam one of the hijackers ordered him to fly away from the coast, head to Australia and indicating to the altimeter not to descend below FL390. The pilot-in-command turned left towards the Comoros Island. The lead hijacker was sitting in the first officer's seat and was fiddling with the aircraft's controls, kicking the rudder, whilst also drinking whisky. The pilot-in-command kept on telling them that he was running short of fuel pointing to the fuel quantity indicators, but the hijackers did not listen. The leader continued fiddling with the controls, trying to turn the aileron and pulling the reverse thrust lever at random. As the flight came over the Comoros Islands the pilot-in-command saw the Moroni International Airport runway and circled 15-20 nm south of the field. Then the LOW FUEL CAUTION came on. The pilot-in-command pleaded to land because of low fuel. The hijackers were unconcerned and only insisted that the pilot not descend below FL390. At about 11:41 UTC the right engine ran down to wind milling speed. The pilot-in-command showed the red warning message for the right engine on the EICAS to the hijacker. At this moment, the hijacker left the right seat and went to the cabin door to discuss with the other two hijackers. This gave the captain the opportunity to pick up his microphone and address the passengers: "....ladies and gentlemen this is your pilot, we have run out of fuel and we are losing one engine this time, and we are expecting crash landing and that is all I have to say. we have lost already one engine, and I ask all passengers to react ..... to the hijackers ....". The hijacker then came back to the cockpit and hit the microphone out of the pilot's hand. After the right engine failed, the pilot started to descend the aircraft in order to increase speed, but the hijacker again interfered and violently played with the controls which resulted in improper control inputs. As a result the autopilot was disconnected and the flight became erratic with the airspeed varying between 216 and 336 kts. As the pilot regained control of the aircraft, the left engine went dead. The hijacker kept on instructing the pilot not to descend and again went to the cabin. Upon returning to the cockpit he saw that the altitude was decreasing, and angrily shouted at the pilot not to go any lower. The pilot said that the fuel was already finished and that the engines were without power. This time the hijacker instructed the captain not to touch the controls, and threatened to kill him. The captain said, "I am already dead because I am flying an airplane without engine power." The first officer, who had earlier been forced out to the First Class cabin, got up and, via the right aisle, went to the rear of the aircraft where he saw that a lot of economy class passengers had their life jackets on and that some had already inflated them. The first officer, along with the cabin crew members, helped the passengers to deflate the life jackets and showed them how the jackets should be re-inflated and how to assume the brace position during impact. While returning to the front of the aircraft, they repeated the same instructions as many times as they could. About less than 2 minutes before the ditching, the co-pilot forced his way to the cockpit shouting "let me help the pilot ...". After adjusting his seat and seat belts the pilot asked him for help since the controls were heavy. The hijackers still kept on struggling with the controls. By now, the aircraft was descending into the Indian Ocean over the Comoros Islands. The aircraft now had only standby instruments and RAT (Ram Air Turbine). The altimeter was indicating 150 feet and the airspeed was 200 kts. By this time the flight crew had been left alone to assume control. They turned the aircraft to the left in order to parallel the waves. However, the aircraft brushed the water in a left-wing-low attitude. It was then held straight and level after which it broke into four sections and came to rest in the sheltered waters 500 metres off Le Galawa Beach. Of the 175 occupants, 6 crew members and 119 passengers were fatally injured in the accident. Six crew members and 38 passengers sustained serious injuries, 2 passengers sustained minor injuries and 4 passengers received no injury.

De Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter

On final approach to Addis Ababa-Bole Airport, the twin engine aircraft collided with a white backed vulture of 5,4 kg. The windshield was broken and both pilots were seriously injured. Nevertheless, they elected to make an emergency landing when the aircraft crashed 300 metres short of runway. All 20 occupants were rescued, among them nine were injured.

Lockheed C-130 Hercules

The four engine aircraft was engaged in a special humanitarian flight from Djibouti City to Addis Ababa, carrying four crew members and a load of foodstuffs on behalf of the World Food Programme. After departure from Djibouti City, while climbing, the pilot informed ATC about technical problems with the main landing gear and was cleared to return. The crew initiated a turn when the aircraft struck the slope of Mt Arey located few km from Djibouti. The aircraft was destroyed upon impact and all four occupants were killed.

Boeing 707

During the takeoff roll at Addis Ababa-Bole Airport runway 07, at a speed of about 100 knots, the captain spotted pigeons around the runway and shortly later, the power on engine n°2 and 3 dropped. The crew decided to abort the takeoff maneuver and initiated an emergency braking procedure. Unable to stop within the remaining distance, the aircraft overran, lost its undercarriage, went down an embankment and came to rest, broken in two. All four crew members escaped uninjured while the aircraft was written off.