Australian aviation expert won’t fly in Boeing 737 Max 8 planes following two deadly crashes

A leading Australian aviation expert has declared that he would not fly in the new Boeing 737 Max 8 after the second crash in five months killed 157 people on board.

• Suspicion falls on Boeing aircraft as experts defend 737
• Officials, doctors, professors among dead in Ethiopian crash

A leading Australian aviation expert has declared that he would not fly in the new Boeing 737 Max 8 after the second crash in five months killed 157 people on board.

Every person travelling on the brand new Boeing 737 Max 8 — that had just been delivered to Ethiopian Airlines — died when it crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa on Sunday.

Virgin Australia has 30 of the new jets on order and confirmed on Monday it will take delivery of the first one at the end of the year.

Two airlines that currently fly the jet in Australia — SilkAir and Fiji Airways — have said they are keeping them in the air.

A man carries a piece of debris of the stricken plane at crash site. Picture: AP

Distraught family members of the victims involved in the plane crash. Picture: AP

An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-800 parked at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Picture: AP.

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It is the same model aircraft operated by the Indonesian Lion Air that crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff last October and killing 189 people on board.

Boeing’s share price dropped by as much as 12 per cent in premarket trading on the New York Stock Exchange early this morning, falling US$51 from its Friday closing price of $422.54.

The price rallied slightly when it opened at 12.30am (AEST) trading at $377 just before 1am.

Indoneisa last night followed China’s lead in grounding the jet after the link was made between the two crashes.

Their concerns were echoed by the former inspector general of the US Transportation Department, Mary Schiavo, who told CNN the similarities between the two crashes was “ highly suspicious.”

“Here we have a brand-new aircraft that’s gone down twice in a year. That rings alarm bells in the aviation industry because that just doesn’t happen,” she said.

Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde GebreMariam said the pilot of flight ET 302 had reported technical difficulties and asked for clearance to return to the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.

“It is a brand-new aeroplane with no technical remarks, flown by a senior pilot and there is no cause that we can attribute at this time,” he said.

The aircraft is the same model operated by Indonesian Lion Air that crashed into the sea last October killing 189 people on board.

Wreckage found at the scene of an Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed shortly after takeoff. Picture: AP

The plane disappeared from flight controller’s screens just six minutes after takeoff.

The Lion Air flight crashed 13 minutes after takeoff.

Pilots in the US have criticised Boeing for withholding information about the new anti-stall device — the Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System.

Australian aviation expert Neil Hansford said: “The MCAS takes the control of the aircraft off the pilot if it thinks the plane is going to stall.”

Rescue team collect debris at the crash site. Picture: AFP

But Mr Hansford said the Boeing manual only mentions the MCAS in the list of acronyms at the back of the book with no instructions on how to use it or disable it.

He said the plane demonstrated “unstable vertical speed” as it was “porpoising up and down as the pilot was fighting against the computer.”

Virgin Independent Pilots Association president Captain John Lyons said the pilots were looking forward to the introduction of the new plane.

“VIPA continues to have the utmost confidence in the Boeing 737 and the rigorous training that Virgin Australia provides its pilots,” he said.

Originally published as Australian aviation expert won’t fly in Boeing 737 Max 8 planes following two deadly crashes