A screw-like device found in the wreckage of the Boeing Co. 737 Max 8 that crashed Sunday in Ethiopia has provided investigators with an early clue into what happened, as work begins in France to decode the black boxes recovered from the scene.
The position of the so-called jackscrew, used to set the trim that raises and lowers the plane’s nose, indicates the jet was configured to dive, based on a preliminary review, according to a person familiar with the investigation. The evidence helped persuade U.S. regulators to ground the model, said the person, who requested anonymity to discuss the inquiry.
France’s aviation safety agency BEA received the cockpit voice and data recorders on Thursday for decoding, while investigators on the scene near Addis Ababa continue to sift through the plane’s wreckage. The second crash in five months has thrown Boeing into a crisis, sending the shares plunging and raising questions about the future of its best-selling jet.
Read: 737 Max Crashes Put Boeing’s Reputation on the Line
Boeing Rises on AFP Report on Upgrade Timing: 737 Max Update
Separately, the New York Times reported that doomed Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 to Nairobi was in trouble almost immediately after takeoff as it lurched up and down by hundreds of feet at a time. The captain asked in a panicky voice to turn back only three minutes into the flight as the plane accelerated to abnormal speeds, the newspaper reported, citing a person who reviewed the jet’s air traffic communications.
“Break break, request back to home,” he told air traffic controllers as they scrambled to divert two other flights approaching the airport. The aircraft had accelerated far beyond what is considered standard practice. All contact between air controllers and the aircraft was lost five minutes after it took off, the report said.
Read: Black Box Politics: How National Pride Intrudes on Crash Probes
Federal Aviation Administration chief Daniel Elwell on Wednesday cited unspecified evidence found at the crash scene as part of the justification for the agency to reverse course and temporarily halt flights of Boeing’s largest selling aircraft. Up until then, American regulators had held off even as nation after nation had grounded the model.
President Donald Trump spoke with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to discuss the crash, Ethiopia’s Fana Broadcasting Corporate reported Friday.
Boeing shares reversed earlier losses after Agence France-Presse reported, citing people it didn’t identify, that the planemaker plans to roll out a software update for 737 Max stall prevention in about 10 days. Boeing reaffirmed in an email that the upgrade will be rolled out in the coming weeks without providing a more specific timetable. The shares rose 2.1 percent to $381.16 at 12:48 p.m. in New York.
Read more: Chart on Boeing’s drop in market value
The jackscrew, combined with a newly obtained satellite flight track of the plane, convinced the FAA that there were similarities to the Oct. 29 crash of the same Max model off the coast of Indonesia. In the earlier accident, a safety feature on the Boeing aircraft was repeatedly trying to put the plane into a dive as a result of a malfunction.
All 157 people aboard died after the plane crashed near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital. The jet’s flight recorders are in France, where they are being analyzed at the BEA’s laboratories. The agency posted a photo of the mangled hardware and has yet to comment on any progress on getting the data. “The investigation process has started in Paris,” Ethiopian Airlines said in a Twitter post on Friday.
升级版谷歌同志一秒钟完工译文:
星期天在埃塞俄比亚坠毁的波音公司737 Max 8残骸中发现的
螺旋状装置为研究人员提供了发生事故的早期线索,因为在法国
开始解码从现场恢复的黑匣子。
据熟悉调查的人士透露,所谓的顶推螺丝的位置,用于设定提升
和降低飞机机头的装饰,表明喷气机事先被配置为向下俯冲,
根据初步审查。这位不愿透露姓名的人士表示,该证据有助于
说服美国监管机构对该模式进行调查。
法国航空安全机构BEA周四接收了驾驶舱语音和数据记录器进行
解码,而在亚的斯亚贝巴附近的现场调查人员继续筛选飞机的
残骸。五个月内的第二起事故让波音公司陷入危机之中,股价
暴跌,并对其最畅销的喷气式飞机的未来提出质疑。
阅读:737 Max Crashes将波音公司的声誉放在了线上
波音在法新社报道升级时间报告:737最新更新
另外,据“纽约时报”报道,埃塞俄比亚航空公司302航班飞往
内罗毕的航班几乎在起飞后立即陷入困境,因为它一次上下颠簸
数百英尺。据报道,一名负责审查喷气式飞机空中交通通讯的
人员说,机长惊恐地要求飞机在飞机起飞前加速到异常速度只有
三分钟。
“休息时间,要求回到家里,”他告诉空中交通管制员,他们
争先恐后地转移另外两个接近机场的航班。飞机加速远远超出了
标准做法。报告称,空中管制员和飞机之间的所有联系在起飞
五分钟后就已经失去了。
阅读:黑匣子政治:民族自豪感如何侵入崩溃探测器
美国联邦航空管理局局长丹尼尔埃尔韦尔周三援引了在事故现场
发现的未明确证据,作为该机构改变航线并暂时停止波音最大
销售飞机航班的理由的一部分。直到那时,美国监管机构甚至在
一个又一个国家将该模型建立起来之后就已经停止了。
埃塞俄比亚法纳广播公司周五报道,总统唐纳德特朗普与埃塞
俄比亚总理阿比艾哈迈德谈论此次事故。
据法新社报道称,该飞机制造商计划在大约10天内推出737 Max
防止停机软件更新后,波音公司股价扭转此前的跌幅。波音公司
在一封电子邮件中重申,升级将在未来几周内推出,而不会提供
更具体的时间表。该股在下午12:48上涨2.1%至381.16美元。
在纽约。
阅读更多:关于波音市值下降的图表
这种顶推螺钉与新获得的飞机卫星飞行轨道相结合,使美国联邦
航空局确信10月29日与印度尼西亚沿海相同的Max型号发生碰撞
有相似之处。在早先的事故中,波音飞机的一项安全功能是由于
故障而一再试图让飞机向下俯冲。
这架飞机在埃塞俄比亚首都亚的斯亚贝巴附近坠毁后,所有157
名乘客死亡。该喷气式飞机的飞行记录仪在法国,在BEA的实验
室进行分析。该机构发布了一张受损硬件的照片,尚未就获取
数据的任何进展发表评论。埃塞俄比亚航空公司周五在 Twitter
帖子中说:“调查过程已在巴黎启动。”
The flight data recorder from the Ethiopia Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8
aircraft.Source: BEA via EPA-EFE
The discovery of the jackscrew was earlier reported by NBC News.