By Mengistu Adugna
Over the last few days, most of us have been in sombre sadness disheartened by the disaster of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight FT-409 destined Beirut to Addis Ababa – leading to the death of 90 people onboard as it has now (at the time of this writing) been confirmed. Firstly, my condolences go to the families of the victims irrespective of where/who they belong to.
In this disaster, we also have been witnessing the unfair treatment given by some of the Beirut media and some circles directly or indirectly linked to the case. Though we may not have love for our own rulers in Addis Ababa, one of the Ethiopian iconic and unifying emblems in the tri-colour is the Ethiopian Airlines. I have been saddened to witness, at early stages of the Beirut tragedy, the unfair blames that the Tri-colour and its flight crew have been receiving, as have been mischaracterised by the Lebanese journalists, Ministry of Transport, Defence Officials etc. These comments of mine don’t implicate the Prime Minister of Beirut and other Officials who fairly have been reflecting on this tragedy.
In the first day, one of the Lebanese journalists made a crude and wrong statement saying that “the Ethiopian Airlines is not one of the best in the world.” The same journalist, by the name “Mariam Soleh,” also stated that “the pilot could have flown his plane better”, that “he must have made a mistake somewhere.” She continued saying that the pilot “did give extra fuel” to the plane. The question one asks is that did she say anything critical about the flight controllers at the airport? With no doubt in her mind she was in fact praising them that they were supporting/aiding the pilot! The Lebanese air traffic controllers have also characterized the cause of the disaster as that the pilot hasn’t maneuvered the plane as instructed by them. This view has been repeatedly played by some circles of the Lebanese victims’ family.
To this end, the Lebanese Defense Ministry and the Transportation Ministry have stated that pilot failed to follow recommendations to change the course of the flight.” This was adding the fuel to the earlier speculation of the officials with the intention of concealing the authorities’ mishandling of the flight by instructing the pilot to take off under adverse weather condition in the first place. The fact that other planes were taking off/landing can’t justify the wrong decision made by the flight controllers or anybody associated. What some circles of the Beirut media and some of the officials are doing is pointing fingers at others — the crew of the Ethiopian in this case.
I posted comments in protest of the officials’ unethical and unprofessional statements on Monday. The journalist mentioned above seemed to me that she has no proper training in journalism. The other media outlets were echoing the same guilty verdict around the world.
The Beirut air traffic controllers are in a similar way attempting to delegate responsibility by blaming the Ethiopian pilot with 20 years experience of flying a commercial jet when they have advised him to take off in such adverse weather condition.
It would be premature to draw conclusions regarding the cause of this tragedy before a complete investigation of this disaster is conducted. This has to involve the US experts knowledgeable in such cases, Boeing engineers, the Ethiopian Airlines, the Lebanese and other relevant bodies that can help with the investigation.
In the mean time, the Ethiopian Airlines management, engaging knowledgeable experts in the field, should aggressively defend the Airlines’ good name and reputation.
(The author, Mengistu Adugna, Ph.D., is a University lecturer in Computer Networks and Distributed Applied Programming. He can be reached at: [email protected])
12 thoughts on “The truth must be told about Ethiopian Flight 409”
Yetemare yegdelegn. The statement should have come from the authorities in Addis. Thank you brother Mengistu for standing up against those (EAL crews) who unfortunately will not be able to defend themselves today. We should put our differences aside and we should always be vigil to defend the motherland. As is, most of us are mad the way this people treat our fellow brothers and sisters who work hard to make the ends meet and now they are insulting our intelligence right on our face. This is just pathetic. I am not an aeronotic engineer but after they led him into the runway, they told him to take a different route at take off. Give us a brake!
I fully agreed With the writer above. Indeed, Ethiopian Airlines management, and staff as stated should “aggressively defend” the reputation of our airlines. I suggest also Diaspora to comment on various medias, including, CNN when read such a comment from Lebanese government. As for some of you who forget ET flight #409 national tragedy already, and rushed to blame ET staff or ET Government, I strongly suggest you hold your differences for a moment, and focus on what matter the most to all of us right now. ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES make us proud for the last 60 years, and now it is our turn to stand behind our airline.
Thank you, Sir! I found it strange how fast any kinds of foulplay was ruled out. After all the security at the Beirut Airport is not one of the best. For this reason, no flights are allowed to make to North America. May be I am a little baised here, but I am looking forward till they find the black box and find out what really happend. No matter what the results are, the reputation of Ethiopian Airline remains untouched. My heart goes out to the family of the victims.
Ato Meles and Co, don’t give a hoot about Ethiopia. So far, they have not said anything defending EAL on world press. This tells us how chicken they are but they like to boast on Ethiopians or when their ego is touched. They are the enemies after all. How do we know that Meles did not give the blessing of this accident by conspiring with Egypt/U.S/Israel for that matter? After all, Meles and Co only care for money, they probably got money for it.
The journalist you mentioned, I have seen the video somewhere, was reporting for Press TV which has its headquarter in Iran and is owned by Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. If i remembered correctly her name is “Mariam Saleh”.
First of all, I am still in shock since the time I heard this tragedy that killed the ninety beautiful human beings that boarded the aircraft. I also would like to express my sorrow to the Ethiopian Air Lines employees and officials, save the TPLFites who are there just to serve their political agenda, who have been working day and night to make sure their passengers are comfortabe and more than anything else safe while they fly EAL. That is why EAL is the best Among the other African Air lines and in the classfied the same with the Air lines of the most developed countries like the USA, Britan, France Germany etc.
Having said that, I have been following all the news emerginng from the different media about this horrendous accident, because I am an Ethiopian leaving abroad and EAL is one of the very few things from my country that I was/am proud of. This tragedy also in no way will alter my confidence and proudness that I have with EAL. I have a firm belief that this accident did not happen because of mechanical failure, as we have heard from the CEO of EAL that the Air craft has been checked recently and I also have a confidence that the accident did not happen because of pilot error, as the pilot was CPt. Habtamu Benti who was a veteran experinced pilot of 20 years. That leaves me with two other factors that would have been the most probable causes for the crash. The first is, bad wheather and the second is sabotage or terrorist. I know these seems far fetched, but we all know that the black box has been located and it is a matter of time before we will know what happened to flight 409. I hope all my suspicions will come true and will be in contrary to what the untrained Lebanes journalist and some unresponsible Lebanese officials tried to tell the whole world. Keep up the good work EAL!
The Mafia TPLF thives are busy in stealing money from the Ethiopian poor. So they have no time or interest to defend the good name of the Ethiopian Airlines. They didn’t build it so they don’t know it. They are just strangers in the wrong place and they know nothing about Ethiopia except stealing.
So don’t be surprised if they are mum when Ethiopian pilots are vilified by a bunch of scum bag terrorists from a terrorist country called Lebanon.
Brother Elias,
Why don’t you organize something so that we can open a trust fund for the families of the Ethiopians who lost their life in the accident? I have a feeling that most of the Ethiopians who lost their life in the accident are the bread winners of their families.
መጀመሪያ በዚህ በረራ ህይወታቸውን ላጡት በሞላ ነፍሳቸውን ይማር ለቤተሰቦቻቸው ለወላጆቻቸው ጽናቱን ይስጣቸው ሃዘናቸው የሁላችንም ሃዘን ነው ፤ የኢትዮጵያ አየር መንገድ ከኢትዮጵያውያን ጀግኖች አትሌት እሩዋጮቻችን ቀጥሎ መጨረሻውና አንዱ የተረፈው ኢትዮጵያውያን በየትም ሃገር የምንኮራበት ድርጅት ነው፤ ይሄ አሁን ያለው አውሬ መንግስትም ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ማንኛውንም ጥሩ የሚባል ነገር እንዳጠፋና እንዳወደመ የኢትዮጵያን አየር መንገድን ያላጠፋበትና ያላወደመበት ምክንያት ምን እንደሆነ የታወቀ ነው እሱም ከዋናዋናዎቹ የውጭ ምንዛሪ ከሚያስገቡለት ድርጅቶች አንዱ በመሆኑ ነው. እዚህ ላይ አንዳንድ ኢትዮጵያውያኖች ለምን ስለዚህ የበረራ አደጋ በተለያዩ ይዜና ምንጮች ሃሰትና ተገቢ ያልሆነ አስተያየቶችና ዜናዎች በኢትዮጵያ አየር መንገድ አብራሪዎች ላይ ሲሰነዘሩ ይሄ መንግስት ነኝ ብሎ እራሱን ያስቀመጠው ባንዳ መንግስት ተቃውሞውን አያቀርብም ብለው ሲጸጸቱ ይሰማል፤ ይሄ ባንዳ መንግስት ከላይ እንደጠቀስኩት የውጭ ምንዛሪ ማስገቢያው የኢትዮጵያ አየር መንገድ ብቻ ሳይሆን ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ በተለያዩ ካድሬዎቹ ስም ብዙ የተለያዩ ድርጅቶች ከፍቶ ብዙ ህጻናት ልጆችንና ብዙ ወጣት ሴቶች ለግርድና ወደውጭ ሃገር በመላክ በብዙ ሚሊዮን ዶላር ገቢ አለው እነኚህንም ገቢ ከሚያገኝበት ከዋናዎቹ ገበያተኞች አንድዋ ሊባኖን ነች፤ እና ይሄ የሃገርንና የባንዲራ ክብር የማያውቅ ወፍ ዘራሽ የሆነ መንግስት በተለያዩ ሃገሮች በኢትዮጵያውያኖች ዜጐች ላይ አሰቃቂ ግፍ እየደረሰ አንዴም ተነስቶ እርዳታውን ድጋፉን ያልሰጠ አሁን ጭራሽ የኢትዮጵያውያን ወጣት ሴቶች የግርድና ገበያተኞቹ አንዱ የሆነችውን ሊባኖንን ተነስቶ ይቃወማል ብላችሁ ታስባላችሁ የዋህነት ነው፤ ግን ይሄንን ባንዳ መንግስት ሳንጠብቅ ኢትዮጵያውያኖች እያንዳንዳችን ባለንበት ሆነን ለኢትዮጵያ አየር መንገድ ድጋፍ ስሙንም ለማጥፋት የሚሞክሩትን መቃወም ኢትዮጵያዊ ግዴታችን ልንኮራበትም ይገባል።
It is so sad to hear all comments made by the goat herders-ignorant to the highest degree and racist to the max.We lost some jewels/a crew more educated than the media staff reporting the accident/sabotage.The Black box will tell it all-wait and see!
My condolences to all Ethiopians grieving.
I also noticed that.. it is not fair that she tried to give ‘an expert’ misleading explanation about the direction of the strong wind and how the Ethiopian fly against the current. That was actually inadequate, possibly a lie, lame and bold!!…from unrecognized Lebanese pilot according to her(?). But also dont forget that no international community watches that trush TV.They are just trying to calm the nerves of the families of the Lebanese victims who were angry at the tower control! But Lets wait for the Avaition Investigators’ result.There are so many possible explanations for this accident. I will always trust Ethiopian and will continue to fly Ethiopian whenever possible and recommend it!
From Belgium
I have been a pilot and I am greatly interested in all aviation subjects. I fully appreciate your frustration at some of the comments made by the media. Trust me when I say journalists are notorious for making unsubstantiated comments. There are in fact many possibilities as to what caused this tragic accident that have nothing to do with pilot performance. Ethiopian Airlines is considered to be one of the best African airlines. Don’t allow rubbish media claims to touch you, as they know nothing at this stage.
All Ethiopians have reason to be proud of Ethiopian airlines. The cause of the accident will probably be better understood when the so-called black box and flight recorders have been retrieved and analyzed. Until then everything is just speculation.
My deepest sympathy to all who have lost someone in this tragic event.