MIT Aeronautics Professor Discusses Plane Model Involved in Ethiopian Crash

An Ethiopian Airlines jetliner crashed Sunday, killing all 157 people on board, including eight Americans, one of whom worked for Save the Children at the group’s U.S. headquarters in Connecticut. The plane crashed six minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa on its way to Kenya. This is the second deadly crash involving a Boeing 737 Max 8 within the past six months. A Lion Air plane crashed in Indonesia in October, killing 189 people. “In that case, there was a problem with an angle of attack sensor,” said MIT aeronautics professor and pilot John Hansman. “The airplane flight control system, because of the bad data, tried to shove the nose down.” He says it’s unlikely that the same mechanical issue caused both fatal crashes. “The pilot in this case should have been aware of that trim problem, or potential trim problem, and known how to shut it off,” he said. Investigators are still trying to determine what caused Sunday’s crash. We do know that at least 10 airlines that operate at Boston Logan Airport fly that particular plane model.