Ethiopian airlines responds to reporting on pilot's training while awaiting investigation results

ADDIS ABABA, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopian AIRLINES Group on Thursday rejected a recent reporting that the pilot on a crashed Boeing 737 Max 8 plane did not receive training, describing it as "incorrect and irresponsible."

A MAX 8 plane operated by Ethiopian AIRLINES crashed shortly after taking off from Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia on March 10, killing all 157 people aboard.

Amid ongoing investigations, recent reports indicated that despite Ethiopian AIRLINES is among the firsts to install a training simulator on the new Max 8, the captain of the crashed Flight ET-302 was not trained on the simulator.

However, Ethiopia's flag carrier stressed that such reports are untrue and irresponsible, with possible impact on the ongoing investigation procedures.

"We urge all concerned to refrain from making such uninformed, incorrect, irresponsible and misleading statements during the period of the accident investigation," an Ethiopian AIRLINES statement read.

The AIRLINES said its pilots completed the Boeing recommended and U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved different trainings "from the B-737 NG aircraft to the B-737 MAX aircraft before the phase-in of the B-737-8 MAX fleet to the Ethiopian operation and before they start flying the B-737-8 MAX."

Ethiopian AIRLINES also said that the "pilots are also made aware and well briefed on the Emergency Airworthiness Directive issued by the FAA following the Lion Air accident."

The content of the airworthiness directive has also been well incorporated in all pilot training manuals, operational procedures and working manuals, the AIRLINES said.

Ethiopia's flag carrier urged that "international regulations require all stakeholders to wait patiently for the result of the investigation."

The Ethiopian AIRLINES plane crash was the second such accident in about five months which involved the MAX 8 model. In October, a Lion Air flight of the same model crashed in Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board.

The French air accident authority BEA, which is investigating the crashed plane's black boxes, revealed that it had found "clear similarities" between the doomed jet and Lion Air flight.

Speaking to Xinhua, Ethiopian AIRLINES Group CEO Tewolde Gebremariam confirmed that the accident "looks like the Lion Air, because the flight only lasted for six minutes."

According to Gebremariam, just about three minutes after taking off, the pilot had reported difficulty in controlling the aircraft and requested returning to Bole International Airport.

The airport's air traffic controllers gave clearance, but the jet disappeared from the radar screen six minutes after take-off.

"It was a very, very short period of time," Gebremariam said.

"There is clear similarity between our crash and the Lion Air crash." Enditem