"I ask to return to the airport": the desperate request of the Boeing pilot before the tragedy of Ethiopian

Elias Mesere | AP

The captain of the plane of Ethiopian Airlines, which crashed nearly a week ago, asked permission "to panic" to return to the airport. airport shortly after takeoff, reported Friday The New York Times, while the airline said it opened an investigation on the flight recorders.

The newspaper quotes "a person who examined the air traffic communications" of Sunday's flight, claiming that the controllers noticed that the aircraft was moving hundreds of meters up and down, at a speed that seemed exceptionally fast.

A spokesman for the airline said the pilot had been allowed to return but the plane crashed a few minutes later in the suburbs of Addis Ababa, killing 157 people on board.

The French authorities now have flight data and voice recorders from the aircraft for badysis.

The agency responsible for the review indicated that it was not clear if the information could be retrieved, and tweeted a photo of the data logger that seemed to show some damage. Ethiopian Airlines reported that an Ethiopian delegation, led by its accident investigation manager, had arrived in the region.

In Ethiopia, officials began collecting DNA samples from relatives of victims to identify human remains.

Countries such as the United States have ordered all their Boeing 737 Max 8s to remain grounded, while the American company has the challenge to prove that its aircraft are safe, despite suspicions software This could have contributed to this and another accident that killed 346 people in less than six months.

After waiting several days, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Wednesday issued an emergency order authorizing the 737 to remain on the runway, saying it had new data and new evidence by satellite showing that the movements of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 were similar to those of Indonesia Air Lion Flight 610.

This plane sank in the Java Sea in October with 189 people on board.

Lion Air officials had said that the sensors on their aircraft had provided incorrect information on their last four flights, triggering the automatic tilt command of the aircraft's nose, which the pilots of the last trip did not Could not reverse.

The latest version of Boeing's best-selling aircraft in history was supposed to give a strong boost to the company's finances for years, but it has become its biggest puzzle.

Since its creation in 2017, Boeing has delivered more than 350 Max in different versions of different sizes. Dozens of airlines around the world have purchased the aircraft for its efficient fuel economy and its usefulness for short and medium distance flights.

Associated Press reporter Dave Koenig in Houston and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to the dispatch.