Addis Ababa – Nairobi

On March 10, 2019 at 08:44 AM, Addis Ababa – Nairobi experienced a crash involving Boeing 737 MAX 8, operated by Ethiopian Airlines, with the event recorded near Debre Zeit (Bishoftu) Oromia.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was takeoff (climb) at a plain, valley crash site.

157 people were known to be on board, 157 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 8, crew fatalities: 8, passengers on board: 149, passenger fatalities: 149, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. 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.

Aircraft reference details include registration ET-AVJ, MSN 62450/7243, year of manufacture 2018.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 8.7490°, 38.9837°.