February 26, 6:21 AM Airlines/Airport Examiner, Joel Siegfried
There are a barrage of statements and counter charges by Ethiopian Airlines CEO Girma Wake, who accused Lebanese authorities on Wednesday, February 24 of making misleading comments on the cause of the Ethiopian Airlines flight ET409 crash last January 25 shortly after taking off from Beirut (BEY). He is supported by Diriba Kuma, Minister of Ethiopian Transport and Communication. Disagreeing are Lebanese Public Works and Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi with Information Minister Tarek Mitri, both dismissing sabotage and blaming the flight crew for not following instructions by Lebanese Air Traffic Control.
Into this mix are selective leaks of a preliminary report by BEA, an agency of the French government charged with technical data analysis.
The Lebanese newspaper As-Safir, claims to have seen findings by the disaster investigators, suggesting that the Ethiopian pilot lost control of the plane moments before it plunged into the sea off the coast of Naameh, south of Beirut.
CAPTIONS: (ABOVE LEFT) Attorney James Healy-Pratt, Partner and Head of the Aviation Department of Stewarts Law LLP, London, UK (Photo courtesy of Stewarts Law); (BELOW RIGHT) Attorney James Healy-Pratt seated in military jet aircraft (Photo courtesy James Healy-Pratt); (BELOW LEFT) Attorneys in conference room, Stewarts Law LLP, London, UK (Photo courtesy Stewarts Law); (BELOW RIGHT LOWER) ET-ANB Seen just a few days after delivery to Ethiopian Airlines in October 2009 on its first visit to Tel Aviv (TLV), which later sadly crashed on the morning of January 25, 2010 just off the coast of Beirut, Lebanon while operating flight ET409 (Airliners.net/Yochai Mossi); (BELOW LEFT LOWER) The same aircraft which crashed on January 25, 2010, ET-ANB, tail fin landing at dusk at Dubai International Airport (DXB), United Arab Emirates, November 18, 2009. (Wikipedia/A. J. Best - Common Use, Public Domain);
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According to As-Safir, the preliminary report allegedly states “Navigation authorities in Rafik Hariri International Airport and other Lebanese authorities were freed from responsibility. The crash was attributed to a ‘human error committed inside the cockpit’.”
Such rhetoric, by all sides, are neither truth nor facts. Instead, they may be preliminary maneuvering to influence public sentiment, forestall lawsuits, deflect responsibility, and encourage out of court settlements.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a UN agency based in Montreal, Canada, which by agreement of its member nations on aircraft accident investigation protocol, states in ICAO Annex 13, Chapter 3, Article 3.1 that “the sole objective of the investigation of an accident or incident shall be the prevention of accidents and incidents. It is not the purpose of this activity to apportion blame or liability.”
To learn more about how blame in such cases are determined, as well as the legal rights of accident victims and their survivors, the Airlines/Airport Examiner contacted Stewarts Law LLP in London, England, one of the leading litigators and experts in the field of aviation law. According to a fact sheet by the firm, “In 2008, Stewarts Law represented over 20% of families involved in aviation accidents worldwide, promoted the highest standards of safety, and recovered more than $250 million U.S. dollars for their clients.”
Partner and Head of the Aviation Department of that firm, Attorney James Healy-Pratt, answered our questions in great detail, along with an analysis of potential causes. He speaks from his experience both as a lawyer, and a pilot who has flown Robinson R22 and R44 helicopters, and is currently undergoing certification and type rating for other advanced helicopters. He is also a member of the New York Bar, and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. Here is a summary of his responses.
Q. Mr. Healy-Pratt, specifically on the ET409 incident, can you offer any theories, or information on the possible causes of this tragic event, and your expectations for a just and equitable settlement?
“There are a number of factors that may have affected the aircraft. In our experience, accidents almost always occur because of a number of factors combining together, rather than a single cause. Potential factors to consider include:
1. Meteorological Factors
These include lightning and turbulence. There have been reports that the aircraft was struck by lightning several times prior to impact. Turbulence alone may have been a contributing factor, particularly if the aircraft encountered a storm cell. While it does not usually cause crashes, it can greatly increase the workload on a pilot.
2. Spatial Disorientation
Spatial disorientation can occur during steep banking or acceleration and is particularly dangerous in night-time and bad weather conditions. This disorientation can result in pilots’ perception disagreeing with reality. In these states, if not corrected, pilots can lose control of an aircraft.
3. Engine Failure / Technical Problems
Reports of a fire may indicate that the aircraft suffered engine failure. Aircraft are designed to be able to fly on only a single engine, however if this was complicated by other factors, control may have been lost.
4. Failure of the spoiler actuators
An accident with very similar facts to the Ethiopian Airlines accident is Kenya Airways Flight KQ507 in 2007, where a Boeing 737-800 crashed shortly after takeoff in night-time and bad weather conditions. We were instructed by families in that accident to seek answers and pursue claims for compensation. No accident report has been released. We have commenced litigation in the US as a result of our concerns that the spoiler actuators, hydraulic pumps which control the spoilers, may have jammed or asymmetrically deployed leading to the loss of control of the aircraft.”
Q. You didn’t mention the evidence which we uncovered from independent reliable sources of a possible radical maneuver to avoid collision with a second aircraft, namely Ethiad EY533, inbound from Dubai (AUH), after ET409 was given clearance to return to BEY with engine problems that developed on the departure climb out. Would you care to comment?
“Thanks for this. It is an interesting potential cause and spotting the start of the accident sequence is critical. There is a school of thought that the ET crew lost situational awareness during the course of an extended maneuver.”
Q. In determining compensation resulting from any aviation accident, how does responsibility by parties who may have contributed to the accident affect the assignment of damages?
“Following any international aviation accident there are a number of tiers of potentially liable parties.
The airline is liable under international conventions (the Warsaw Convention, the Warsaw Convention as Amended by the Hague Protocol, and the Montreal Convention). Their liability is absolute which means that they are liable to pay compensation to the relatives of deceased passengers. The amount of that compensation will depend upon three primary factors:
1. The economic loss suffered by the dependents: this principally depends upon how much dependents were dependent upon the deceased passenger and how much the deceased passenger earned.
2. Which of the Conventions applies: The Warsaw Convention and the Warsaw Convention as Amended by the Hague Protocol contain liability limits. The Montreal Convention is effectively unlimited.
3. The law that is applied to calculate the compensation: Different jurisdictions calculate compensation due to dependents in a different manner. The choice of jurisdiction that should be used to calculate the compensation is set out in the Conventions. Essentially this jurisdiction is chosen by the family of the deceased passenger from one of the following: the domicile of the airline; its principal place of business (if different); where the ticket was bought; or for cases governed by the Montreal Convention, the domicile of the passenger.”
Thank you, Mr. Healty-Pratt. Due to editorial limitations on the length of our dispatches, we will continue this discussion in our next report.
We would like to hear your thoughts. Please leave comments below or by email and subscribe to get future updates.
February 27th, 2010 at 7:21 am
Where is the sabotage possible case?
February 27th, 2010 at 11:07 am
dear we dont accept lebanon imaginary news .The black box is found let us wait what the proffessionals will say the resalt of the box.I think the expiriance of Ethiopian pilots cant be measured by lebanon officials.
February 27th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
WHAY DID THIS FLIGHT TOOK OF IN THAT WEATHER TO BIGIN WITH?
WHEN THERE IS BAD WEATHER FLIGHTS ARE TOLD TO STAND DOWN.
SOME BODY MUST HAVE TOLD THEM THAT IT IS OK TO TLY. AND WHO IS THAT?
February 28th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
The Ethiopian Pilots are well trained under difficult cercumstances and much more SUPPERIOR than The racist and UNCIVILIZED Lebanes officials
February 28th, 2010 at 6:41 pm
Please read the news below, read how the despicable lebanese treated the women and children killer woyanes. They humiliated the 13 Ethiopian airlines team, and the 4th grade graduate coward and stupid woyanes hid this scandalous news for five weeks. Not surprising that the lebanese despise woyanes knowing that they sell Ethiopian maids to them and do nothing when the lebanese abused,beaten,raped and even killed those maids.
Hints of foul play?
Saturday, 27 February 2010
By Kaleyesus Bekele
Despite a consistent position that there will be no statements given by the Ethiopian side regarding the investigations into the causes of the crash of ET-409 off the coast of Lebanon, one thing though has been made clear by officials here - that nothing has yet been ruled out—including sabotage.
An investigation by The Reporter has revealed that in addition to breaching the “gag agreement’ between high officials of both countries, the Lebanese side has also been committing a series of deliberate tampering of evidence, withholding of information and preventing access to Ethiopian investigation teams sent to Beirut.
A 13-member Ethiopian team, comprising senior pilots, medical personnel and other professionals, went to Beirut on January 26.
Reliable sources have disclosed to The Reporter that the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) was tampered with by the Lebanese. The professionals that went to inspect the CVR are said to have found that recorded segment of several minutes was deleted.
Usually, the CVR records for 30 minutes and then deletes that and begins to record another 30 minutes segment. In case of an accident, regardless of the extent or type the CVR is built to retain the voice recorded in the cockpit for the last 30 minutes before a crash. The CVR records all the conversations made in the cockpit.
While the estimated flight time of the plane has so far been put at four minutes, The Reporter has learned that Ethiopian professionals were given only two minutes’ segment of the recording to listen.
According to The Reporter’s sources, the recording should have included segments from the time the chokes were removed from underneath the wheels. According to the sources, however, some parts before the two minute recording available and after it were missing.
“There is only recording of the conversation during take off. And you can hear what the pilots were being told by the tower control. The clearance that has been given to the pilots while flight ET-409 was taxiing is missing. The conversation made some time after the plane took off is also missing. When the Ethiopian professionals asked to listen to the tape for the second time the Lebanese authorities refused.”
When the Ethiopian delegation asked how some parts of the recorded material was missing the Lebanese authorities are reported to have declined to give explanations.
When Ethiopian team arrived in Beirut on the 26th, the director general of the Lebanese Civil Aviation Authority briefed them about the rescue efforts. During the briefing the director general told the Ethiopian delegation that 25 bodies had been recovered.
The Ethiopian delegation had passed this information to the concerned authorities and the media at home. At the Rafiq Hariri Hospital morgue, however, the Ethiopians found 14 bodies. When they asked the physicians where the rest of the remains were they were told that the hospital received only 14 bodies. When they asked the director general about the situation he only said it was a mistake.
According to the sources, bodies are part of the major sources of clue to the cause of a crash. The injury inflicted on bodies is important in identifying the type and cause of an accident.
“Was there a fire on the plane? Was there an explosive or was the plane shot down? The information investigators gather from bodies is crucial.”
Only recently have the Lebanese authorities announced they have recovered and identified all the remains of the 90 victims. In addition, some bodies of the Lebanese passengers were handed over to their families before the investigation process got underway.
“The Ethiopian delegation was not given access to those bodies. It was also not allowed to talk to families of the victims.”
If not for investigation purposes, it is mandatory that representatives of Ethiopian Airlines meet and talk with families regarding insurance.
The delegation, according to The Reporter’s sources, was not even allowed to have the victims’ families (Lebanese) fill out certain insurance related forms.
The director general reportedly refused to let the delegation talk to the families saying that Lebanese people were violent and could take any action against the Ethiopian delegation.
The director general also said Lebanese men marry four to five wives, making it difficult to determine which one the delegation ought to talk to.
The Ethiopian delegation was not allowed to visit the crash site and make a firsthand observation of the rescue and search operation.
“They did not want the Ethiopians to see the bodies as they were being retrieved. Why did they not want them to see the bodies? There are a lot of questions that need to be answered,” the sources said.
The other big mystery has to do with a witness that vanished into thin air. Officials of the Lebanese Civil Aviation Authority on the first day of the accident conducted an interview with an army officer who said he saw the plane explode into a ball of fire and plunge into the sea.
And when American and the French investigators came to Beirut the Lebanese officials are reported to have told them that they had this interview on record.
But when later they were asked for the recording of the interview, they failed to provide it. The witness also could not be available.
Ninety two percent of the plane’s body still remains under sea. The Lebanese authorities took some parts of the wreckage and are said to have locked it up.
“The Lebanese authorities recently announced that the fuselage, the main body of the aircraft, was found. How can it take so long to locate this?
The same thing happened to the black box.
Reports from Lebanon and official statements had indicated that it was located on January 29, adding that it would only take eight hours to send divers and bring it up.
Officially, though, the Lebanese said it was retrieved on February 14, fifteen days after they said they detected the signal from the black box.
The Ethiopian team was also told that the memory chip of the CVR was missing when they arrived in Paris. When the Lebanese were asked for permission to inspect the CVR as soon as it was retrieved in Beirut, they are reported to have refused claiming that they could not unseal the container.
Despite all these, however, the Lebanese have persistently been trying to imply that the crash was caused either by technical failure or human error.
March 2nd, 2010 at 8:57 pm
This is a clear sabotage, the plane was in fire before it plunged into the sea. Either an explosion of some sort took place or it was hit by a flying object (missile). An eye witness who was outside in a gas station told reporters, unless he is killed by the Lebanese officials it is best to ask the same guy how heavy was the rain? and if there was lightning, how come he was standing near a gas station, during lightning its dangerous for anyone to be near a gas station. So, the environmental effect is dead. The people must discuss a foreign force or an internal explosion. The plane was given a clear bill of health a month ago, so the only possibility here is either a missile or an explosion buried inside the plane.
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March 12th, 2010 at 7:35 am
I DOUBT THAT THERE IS ANY OTHER COUSE OTHER THAN SABOTAGE IT IS IN FEW HOUR AFTER THE CRUSH THE LEBANESE OFFICALS STARTED TO BLAME THE PILOT WITH OUT ANY SUPPORTING EVIDENCE IF THEY WERE CONFIDENT THEY COULD HAVE WAITED UNTIL THE INVESTIGATION ADVANCES AND THERE LOTOF REASON TO SAY THEY KNOW THE REAL COUSE WHICH IS SABOTAGE BUT IT IS CLEAR THAT HIDING A TRUTH IS IMMPOSIBLE
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