Boeing ousts Muilenburg, names Chair David Calhoun as CEO

Yahoo – AFP, December 23, 2019

Boeing replaced Dennis Muilenburg as CEO amid the protracted 737 MAX
crisis (AFP Photo/ALEX WONG)

New York (AFP) - Boeing on Monday replaced its embattled chief executive, Dennis Muilenburg, saying a change was necessary as it attempts to restore its reputation amid the protracted 737 MAX crisis.

Boeing named board Chairman David Calhoun as chief executive and president, saying the company needed to "restore confidence" and "repair relationships with regulators, customers and all other stakeholders."

The company pledged to "operate with a renewed commitment to full transparency, including effective and proactive communication with the FAA, other global regulators and its customers."

The aerospace giant's financial picture remains clouded following the global grounding of the MAX in March after two deadly crashes.

The move comes a week after Boeing took the monumental step of temporarily shutting down MAX production because of the crisis, which has pushed the aircraft's return to the skies into 2020.

Muilenburg will exit the company immediately but Calhoun, a former General Electric aviation executive, will not take the CEO post until January 13, 2020, while he exits existing commitments, Boeing said in a news release.

During that period, Chief Financial Officer Greg Smith will serve as interim CEO.

Muilenburg's response to the crisis has been increasingly criticized as the MAX grounding has dragged on far longer than initially expected as more disturbing details have dribbled out about the certification of the MAX.

He has also been seen as tone deaf and awkward towards families of the 346 people killed in the crashes.

After enduring two withering congressional hearings in the fall, Muilenburg's leadership came under further scrutiny this month when the Federal Aviation Administration called the company out for overly-optimistic timeframe for restoring the MAX that the agency said created the perception that Boeing was trying "to force FAA into taking quicker action."

Boeing shares jumped 3.4 percent to $339.13 in early trading on the news.

The company took another hit to its reputation over on Sunday when its Starliner spacecraft landed six days early after a failed mission to rendezvous with the International Space Station.

US aviation chief says Boeing 737 MAX won't be recertified until 2020

Yahoo – AFP, John BIERS, December 11, 2019

People hold up pictures of the victims of Boeing 737 MAX accidents as Federal
Aviation Administration Administrator(FAA) Stephen Dickson(R) testifies before
the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on Capitol Hill (AFP
Photo/JIM WATSON)

New York (AFP) - The top US air transport regulator on Wednesday doused Boeing's hopes that its 737 MAX will return to the skies this year while lawmakers probed why the agency did not ground the plane after the first of two crashes.

In an interview just ahead of a congressional hearing on the crashes, Federal Aviation Administration chief Steve Dickson told CNBC the aircraft will not be cleared to fly before 2020.

The process for approving the MAX's return to the skies still has 10 or 11 milestones left to complete, including a certification flight and a public comment period on pilot training requirements, he said.

"If you just do the math, it's going to extend into 2020," he said.

The MAX has been grounded since March following the second of two crashes that killed a total of 346 people.

Boeing has been aiming to win regulatory approval this month, with flights projected to resume in January.

But Dickson said, "I've made it very clear Boeing's plan is not the FAA's plan."

"We're going to keep our heads down and support the team in getting this report done right."

A captured agency?

Many of the questions at the subsequent hearing in the House Transportation Committee focused on why the FAA did not move more aggressively after the first crash.

FAA administrator Stephen Dickson, shown here at a swearing-in in August, is 

expected to face tough questioning at a congressional hearing Wednesday 

(AFP Photo/WIN MCNAMEE)

Boeing and the FAA have been under intense scrutiny following the crashes for their response to issues with the aircraft, including the flight-handling system involved in both accidents, the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS.

Rather than grounding the plane after the October 2018 Lion Air crash, the FAA determined that it would require Boeing to revise the MCAS flight handling system in a process overseen by the FAA.

The agency also issued guidelines to flight crews worldwide on how the respond to a problem with MCAS, an automated system that pilots were unable to control during the Lion Air crash.

At Wednesday's hearing, Representative Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat leading a congressional probe, cited an internal FAA risk analysis that, without fixes to MCAS, the MAX could suffer as many as 15 such catastrophic accidents over its decades of expected use.

That is a much higher rate than other planes and aviation experts consider it unacceptable.

Dickson, who did not join the agency until this summer following the two crashes, said he did not know who saw the internal analysis but that the agency's decisions after the Lion Air crash were "data driven."

"We really didn't know what the causes were" of the Lion Air crash, Dickson said, adding that issues with aircraft maintenance and pilot performance were also factors besides the MCAS.

"Obviously the result is not satisfactory," Dickson said when pressed if the agency had made a mistake.

After crashes that killed 346 people, Boeing has been aiming to get its 737 MAX 

certified to return to the skies this month, but the FAA says that cannot happen 

until 2020 (AFP Photo/JUSTIN SULLIVAN)

"The decision did not achieve the result it was intended to achieve."

DeFazio said the FAA's response was "way less than not satisfactory... it was catastrophic."

DeFazio said it was not clear how widely the internal FAA risk analysis had been distributed in the agency and whether officials on a key air worthiness panel saw the document.

"We may have a captive regulatory problem in the field offices," DeFazio said, referring to FAA officials in Seattle who on key decisions deferred to Boeing during the MAX certification.

A Boeing spokesman said the company agreed with the FAA's response to the Lion Air crash.

"The actions that Boeing and the FAA took, including the issuance of the Operations Manual Bulletin and Airworthiness Directive and the timeline for implementing the MCAS enhancements, were fully consistent with the FAA's analysis and established process," the Boeing spokesman said.

Dickson said he was determined to improve the agency's operations to prevent future crashes.

He said the accidents showed problems with "fragmented and inadequate" communications at the agency that inhibited the agency's ability to comprehensively assess safety during certification.

The House Transportation Committee also will hear from Edward Pierson, a former senior manager at Boeing who told company brass he feared production problems put plane safety at risk.

Michael Collins, a former FAA safety engineer who has criticized the agency's move to delegate some decisions to Boeing, will also testify.

Shares of Boeing were down 0.6 percent in early afternoon trading at $345.75.

Boeing, FAA misjudged pilot response to 737 MAX trouble: government report

Yahoo – AFP, September 26, 2019

The NTSB said Boeing should correct plane design and pilot training to provide
clearer warnings of trouble (AFP Photo/ERIC PIERMONT)

New York (AFP) - Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration misjudged how pilots would respond to multiple alerts and alarms as they encountered trouble when flying the 737 MAX, according to a government report released Thursday.

The FAA needs to adopt a more realistic view of how pilots react under such scenarios as they certify planes, the National Transportation Safety Board said.

The report from the independent government agency comes more than six months after the 737 MAX was grounded globally following two fatal crashes which killed 346 people.

"We saw in these two accidents that the crews did not react in the ways Boeing and the FAA assumed they would," NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said.

"Those assumptions were used in the design of the airplane and we have found a gap between the assumptions used to certify the MAX and the real-world experiences of these crews, where pilots were faced with multiple alarms and alerts at the same time."

The NTSB recommended the FAA revise plane design and pilot training based on pilot response, and ensure clearer "failure indications" are provided to pilots to improve response.

An FAA spokesman said the agency "will carefully review these and all other recommendations" and that the lessons learned from the crashes "will be a springboard to an even greater level of safety" as it works to certify the MAX to fly again.

Boeing also said it will take the NTSB recommendations into account.

"Safety is a core value for everyone at Boeing," a company spokesman said. "We value the role of the NTSB in promoting aviation safety. We are committed to working with the FAA in reviewing the NTSB recommendations."

Boeing acknowledges flaw in 737 MAX simulator software

Yahoo – AFP, Luc OLINGA, May 19, 2019

Boeing has acknowledged for the first time that there was a design flaw
in software linked to the 737 MAX (AFP Photo/Jason Redmond)

Boeing acknowledged Saturday it had to correct flaws in its 737 MAX flight simulator software used to train pilots, after two deadly crashes involving the aircraft that killed 346 people.

"Boeing has made corrections to the 737 MAX simulator software and has provided additional information to device operators to ensure that the simulator experience is representative across different flight conditions," it said in a statement.

The company did not indicate when it first became aware of the problem, and whether it informed regulators.

Its statement marked the first time Boeing acknowledged there was a design flaw in software linked to the 737 MAX, whose MCAS anti-stall software has been blamed in large part for the Ethiopian Airlines tragedy.

According to Boeing, the flight simulator software was incapable of reproducing certain flight conditions similar to those at the time of the Ethiopian Airlines crash in March or the Lion Air crash in October.

The company said the latest "changes will improve the simulation of force loads on the manual trim wheel," a rarely used manual wheel to control the plane's angle.

"Boeing is working closely with the device manufacturers and regulators on these changes and improvements, and to ensure that customer training is not disrupted," it added.

Southwest Airlines, a major 737 MAX customer with 34 of the aircraft in its fleet, told AFP it expected to receive the first simulator "late this year."

American Airlines, which has 24 of the aircraft, said it had ordered a 737 MAX simulator that will be delivered and put into operation in December.

"As a result of the continuing investigation into both aircraft accidents, we are looking at the potential for additional training opportunities in coordination with the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and Allied Pilots Association," it added.

Certification process

The planes have been grounded around the world, awaiting approval from US and international regulators before they can return to service.

Only Air Canada has a MAX simulator, industry sources told AFP.

Currently, there is only one flight simulator specific to the 737 MAX in the United States, and it is owned by Boeing, according to FAA documentation.

US airlines train their pilots flying the MAX on a simulator built for the 737 NG, the version preceding the 737 MAX in the 737 aircraft family.

Southwest said that's because during the certification process for the MAX, Boeing stressed that there were only minor differences with the NG and simple computer and online training could accommodate for the differences.

The FAA, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency and Canadian regulators had approved those recommendations, Boeing stresses.

However, the 737 NG lacks an MCAS, specially designed for the MAX in order to correct an aerodynamic anomaly due to its heavier motor and to prevent the plane from stalling.

Pilot training will likely be at the heart of the meeting of international regulators in Forth Worth, Texas on Thursday when the FAA will try convince its counterparts of the robustness of its certification process for the modified 737 MAX.

The American regulator has maintained that training pilots on a simulator is not essential, a position with which pilots and its Canadian counterpart disagree.

Boeing said Thursday that it completed its software update on the 737 MAX.

The proposed fix, which addresses a problem with a flight handling system thought to be a factor in both crashes, must now win approval from US and international regulators before the planes can return to service.

US airlines have targeted August as the date they expect to resume flying on the 737 MAX.

Related Article:

Boeing knew of 737 MAX safety system glitch year before deadly crash

Boeing 737 MAX makes emergency landing during US transfer: FAA

Yahoo – AFP, March 26, 2019

Southwest Airlines cut its first-quarter sales forecast, due in part to the hit from
cancelled flights following the Boeing 737 MAX grounding (AFP Photo/Ralph Freso)

Washington (AFP) - A Boeing 737 MAX aircraft operated by Southwest Airlines made an emergency landing Tuesday after experiencing an engine problem as it was being ferried from Florida to California, the US Federal Aviation Agency said.

"The aircraft returned and landed safely in Orlando," the FAA said in a statement, adding that no passengers were on board the aircraft, which was being transferred to Victorville, California for storage.

"The FAA is investigating," added the agency, which grounded the Boeing 737 MAX on March 13 following two deadly accidents involving Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air but continues to allow the planes to be ferried from airport to airport.

Southwest said the plane experienced an engine problem "shortly after takeoff."

"The crew followed protocol and safely landed back at the airport" around 3:00 pm (1900 GMT), spokesman Chris Mainz said.

"The Boeing 737 MAX 8 will be moved to our Orlando maintenance facility for a review."

It was the latest setback for Boeing's flagship narrow-body plane following October's Lion Air crash and the Ethiopian Airlines accident earlier this month, which together killed 346 people.

The accidents, which shared similarities, led authorities across the world to ground the aircraft.

Boeing has since conducted test flights of its 737 MAX to evaluate a fix for the MCAS stall prevention system targeted as a potential cause for the deadly crashes, two sources familiar with the matter said.

The system has been criticized since it can malfunction and make it difficult for pilots to control the aircraft. Both of the recent crashes occurred moments after takeoff.

A Senate Commerce Committee panel will hold a hearing Wednesday to question FAA Acting Administration Daniel Elwell and Transportation Department Inspector General Calvin Scovel

The officials are expected to face questions from lawmakers on the FAA's certification of the 737 MAX and whether regulators have become too cozy with the company, and fast-tracked some approvals.

The session is expected to be followed by a second hearing at a later date with Boeing, airline pilots and other stakeholders, the committee said.

US probing certification of Boeing 737 MAX

Yahoo – AFP, Delphine TOUITOU with Luc OLINGA in New York, March 19, 2019

Boeing's 737 MAX planes, including those owned by American Airlines, seen here in
March 2019, have been grounded following recent accidents (AFP Photo/JOE RAEDLE)

Washington (AFP) - Boeing and US aviation regulators are coming under intense scrutiny over the certification of the 737 MAX aircraft after news that two recent crashes share similarities.

On March 11, just a day after the Ethiopia crash left 157 dead, a grand jury in Washington issued a subpoena to at least one person involved in the plane's certification, according to a Wall Street Journal article citing people close to the matter.

The subpoena, which came from a prosecutor in the Justice Department's criminal division, seeks documents and correspondence related to the plane, according to the report.

A criminal inquiry is "an entirely new twist," said Scott Hamilton, managing director of the Leeham Company, who recalled a probe of a 1996 ValuJet crash as the only other aviation probe that was not a civil investigation.

"Unlike France, where criminal investigations into aviation accidents seems common, it is very, very rare in the US," Hamilton added.

The Transportation Department's inspector general also is probing the approval of the 737 MAX by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), The Wall Street Journal also reported. Neither department responded to requests for comment from AFP.

The probe is focusing on the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, implicated in the Lion Air crash, which authorities have said shared similarities with the latest accident.

The Ethiopian Airlines crash on March 10 came less than five months after a 737 MAX 8 operated by Lion Air crashed in Indonesia, killing 189.

While it may take months for definitive conclusions, Ethiopian officials said Sunday there were "clear similarities" between the two catastrophes based on information from the flight data recorder.

The two incidents have prompted air transport regulators to ground 737 MAX aircraft worldwide, a surprising setback for a line of jets that has been flying for less than two years and is Boeing's top seller.

An investigation by The Seattle Times -- in the city where Boeing has a large manufacturing presence -- showed numerous problems with the MCAS, including that it would repeatedly override a pilot's actions based on one faulty sensor. The paper asked for a response from Boeing and the FAA at least a week prior to the latest crash.

Shares of Boeing dropped another 1.8 percent on Monday to $372.28. The company has fallen about 12 percent since the Friday before the crash.

Maps and factfile on the Ethiopian Airlines crash on March 10, 2019 and 

the Lion Air crash on October 29, 2018 (AFP Photo/Gal ROMA)

FAA officials had no comment Monday on the investigations but reaffirmed that the certification for the plane followed standard procedure.

Boeing said it followed the rules in bringing the plane to the market.

"The 737 MAX was certified in accordance with the identical FAA requirements and processes that have governed certification of all previous new airplanes and derivatives," Boeing said.

"The FAA considered the final configuration and operating parameters of MCAS during MAX certification and concluded that it met all certification and regulatory requirements."

Later Monday, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg sought to reassure clients and passengers of the firm's commitment to safety in a video message.

"Safety is at the core of who we are at Boeing, and ensuring safe and reliable travel on our airplanes is an enduring value and our absolute commitment to everyone," Muilenburg said.

"Soon we'll release a software update and related pilot training for the 737 MAX that will address concerns discovered in the aftermath of the Lion Air Flight 610 accident."

Auto-certification?

The 737 MAX was certified as a variant of the 737 Next Generation, the plane it replaced, despite major differences in the engine and the addition of the MCAS, according to documents available on the FAA's website.

The motors on the new plane are heavier than in the 737 NG, posing more of a risk of stalling, so the MCAS was designed to protect against the possibility. But the Lion Air accident showed the system can erroneously correct for a stall when the plane is taking off, based on one bad sensor, and continuously fight the pilot for control.

US pilots complained to Boeing about the issues following the Lion Air crash.

Because of budget constraints, the FAA delegated aspects of the approval process to Boeing itself, according to sources.

Under a program, known as the Organization Designation Authorization (ODA), employees of Boeing are accredited by the FAA to assist in approving the aircraft -- including design, production, flight tests, maintenance and other systems -- as well as signing off on the training procedures of pilots on new planes.

The FAA last week said it already had ordered Boeing to develop a fix for problems with the MCAS system. But the agency was not able to describe any changes in the plane implemented by Boeing after the Lion Air accident.

According to one aviation expert who requested anonymity, Boeing had readied some modifications for the system by the end of 2018 but the regulatory approval and subsequent installation of the changes were delayed by the five-week US government shutdown.

Legislators Peter DeFazio, chairman of the House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Ted Cruz, who chairs a Senate transportation subcommittee, have each called for hearings to look into the 737 MAX's certification.

Ethiopian Airlines crash: What is the MCAS system on the Boeing 737 Max 8?

Yahoo – AFP, Chris Lefkow, March 17, 2019

The crash of an Ethiopian Airlines plane has put the spotlight on an anti-stalling
system used on the 737 Max 8 aircraft (AFP Photo/Michael TEWELDE)

Washington (AFP) - Similarities between the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes, confirmed by black box data, have focused attention on an anti-stalling system used in the new Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft.

The Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) is an automated safety feature on the 737 Max 8 designed to prevent the plane from entering into a stall, or losing lift.

Both the Lion Air jet, which crashed in October, killing 189 people, and the Ethiopian Airlines aircraft, which went down a week ago Sunday, leaving 157 people dead, were fitted with the system.

Both planes experienced similarly erratic steep climbs and descents and fluctuating airspeeds before crashing shortly after takeoff.

A malfunction of the system was implicated in the Lion Air accident in Indonesia.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said findings from the crash site and "newly refined satellite data" warranted "further investigation of the possibility of a shared cause for the two incidents."

The 737 Max 8 and 9 have been grounded worldwide since the Ethiopia crash, and on Friday industry sources said Boeing plans to upgrade the MCAS system in the "coming weeks."

MCAS was introduced by Boeing on the 737 Max 8 because its heavier, more fuel-efficient engines changed the aerodynamic qualities of the workhorse aircraft and can cause the plane's nose to pitch up in certain conditions during manual flight.

Angle of attack sensors on the aircraft tell the MCAS to automatically point the nose of the plane down if it is in danger of going into a stall.

This is done through horizontal stabilizers on the plane's tail which are activated by the aircraft's flight control computer.

According to Boeing, MCAS does not control the plane during normal flight but "improves the behavior of the airplane" during "non-normal" situations.

These could be steep turns or after takeoff when a plane is climbing with flaps up at speeds that are close to stall speed.

According to the flight data recorder, the pilots of Lion Air Flight 610 struggled to control the aircraft as the automated MCAS system repeatedly pushed the plane's nose down following takeoff.

The pilots of the Ethiopian Airlines plane reported similar difficulty before the aircraft plunged into the ground shortly after takeoff.

Boeing was criticized

A preliminary report on the Lion Air Flight 610 accident blamed it in part on a faulty angle of attack sensor that triggered the MCAS system and automatically forced the plane's nose down.

Pilots flying the same Lion Air plane the previous day had managed to override the automated flight control system.

Boeing came in for some criticism after the Lion Air crash for allegedly failing to adequately inform 737 pilots about the functioning of MCAS or provide training about the system.

Following the Lion Air crash, Boeing issued a bulletin to airlines operating the 737 Max 8 advising pilots how to override the MCAS system.

The US aircraft manufacturer issued a statement on Monday saying it was too early to understand the cause of the Ethiopian Airlines accident.

Boeing also said it was working on software updates to the MCAS system which would be deployed across the 737 Max fleet.

It said procedures already exist to "safely handle the unlikely event of erroneous data coming from an angle of attack (AOA) sensor," the suspected cause of the Lion Air crash.

"The pilot will always be able to override the flight control law (MCAS) using electric trim or manual trim," the aircraft manufacturer said.

Boeing has described the Max series as its fastest-selling family of planes, with more than 5,000 orders placed to date from about 100 customers.

But not since the 1970s -- when the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 suffered successive fatal incidents -- has a new model been involved in two deadly accidents in such a short period.

More nations ban Boeing 737 MAX jets after Ethiopia crash

Yahoo – AFP, March 12, 2019

Boeing 737 Max planes are being suspended from airspace in countries including
Britain, France, Germany, Ireland and The Netherlands (AFP Photo/BEN STANSALL)

Paris (AFP) - The EU closed its airspace to Boeing 737 MAX planes on Tuesday, joining similar action by nations across the globe following a second deadly accident in just five months.

Fleets of the best-selling workhorse plane were also grounded by airlines as safety concerns swirled, sending Boeing shares tumbling another seven percent in Tuesday trading and wiping billions more off its market value.

On Sunday, a new Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX 8 went down minutes into a flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, killing all 157 people on board.

In October, a Lion Air jet of the same model crashed in Indonesia, killing 189 people shortly after takeoff from Jakarta.

The widening airspace closures puts pressure on Boeing, the world's biggest planemaker, to prove the MAX planes are safe.

The full extent of the impact on international travel routes was unclear, although there are some 350 MAX 8 planes currently in service around the world with more than 5,000 on order.

Factfile on the Boeing 737 MAX 8 (AFP Photo)

The EU aviation safety agency said it was closing European airspace to all MAX aircraft currently operating.

It noted that the "exact causes" of the Lion Air crash were still being investigated.

"Since that action, another fatal accident occurred," EASA said, referring to Sunday's Ethiopian Airlines disaster.

"At this early stage of the investigation, it cannot be excluded that similar causes may have contributed to both events," the agency said.

'Precautionary measure'

India late Tuesday joined the list of countries to close its airspace to the jet, a day after saying it had imposed additional interim safety requirements for ground engineers and crew for the aircraft.

The Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 went down minutes into a flight 

to Nairobi, killing all 157 people on board (AFP Photo/Michael TEWELDE)

Elsewhere, Turkish Airlines, one of the largest carriers in the world, said it was suspending its 12 MAX aircraft from Wednesday, until "uncertainty" was clarified.

Low-cost airline Norwegian Air Shuttle, South Korea's Eastar Jet and South Africa's Comair also said they would halt flights.

On Twitter, US President Donald Trump weighed in on the situation, writing: "Airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly."

"Pilot are no longer needed, but rather computer scientists from MIT," he wrote, referring to the prestigious university in Massachusetts.

US carriers have so far appeared to maintain confidence in Boeing, which has said it is certain the planes are safe to fly.

The US federal aviation authority, the FAA, has not grounded the MAX but ordered the manufacturer to make design changes.

US President Donald Trump tweeted that modern planes are too complicated

for pilots (AFP Photo/Jim WATSON)

The move was not enough to reassure the UK Civil Aviation Authority, which said it was banning the planes from UK airspace "as a precautionary measure".

Global air travel hub Singapore, as well as Australia, Malaysia and Oman were among the other countries to ban all MAX planes from their airspace.

China, a hugely important market for Boeing, had already ordered domestic airlines to suspend operations of the plane on Monday, as did Indonesia.

Argentina's flag carrier also grounded five MAX 8 aircraft on Tuesday, as did airlines in countries including Brazil and Mexico.

'Significant industry impact'

Boeing has described the MAX series as its fastest-selling family of planes, with more than 5,000 orders placed to date from about 100 customers.

Debris of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane strewn over a crash site outside Addis 

Ababa (AFP Photo/Michael TEWELDE)

But not since the 1970s -- when the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 suffered successive fatal incidents -- has a new model been involved in two deadly accidents in such a short period.

"I think the impact for the industry is significant," said Gerry Soejatman, a Jakarta-based aviation analyst.

"We have a new type of aircraft -- that type of aircraft has only been in service for two years -- and... we have two accidents with seemingly similar circumstances."

The plane involved in Sunday's crash was less than four months old, with Ethiopian Airlines saying it was delivered on November 15.

It went down near the village of Tulu Fara, some 40 miles (60 kilometres) east of Addis Ababa.

Ethiopian Airlines said the pilot was given clearance to turn around after indicating problems shortly before the plane disappeared from radar.

The doomed Boeing 737 MAX airliner was carrying passengers and crew from 

35 countries (AFP Photo)

Its chief executive Tewolde GebreMariam said the plane had flown in from Johannesburg on Sunday, spent three hours in Addis and was "dispatched with no remark", meaning no problems were flagged.

Investigators have recovered the black box flight recorders, which could potentially provide information about what happened, depending on their condition.

The crash cast a pall over a gathering of the UN Environment Programme in Nairobi -- at least 22 staff from several UN agencies were on board the doomed flight.

Kenya had the highest death toll among the nationalities on the flight with 32, according to Ethiopian Airlines.

There were also passengers from Canada, Ethiopia, Italy, the United States, Britain and France.

#UPDATE The ban on the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft became worldwide after US President Donald Trump joined Canada and other countries in grounding the aircraft amid intense pressure about the safety concerns https://t.co/okBppoGk6W

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 13 maart 2019

Black box data recovered from an Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed last week shows "clear similarities" with a recent crash in Indonesia of the same type of aircraft, Ethiopia's transport minister said https://t.co/k38qc9WcB6 by @ChrisJStein pic.twitter.com/1Q7SuaGpA6

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 17 maart 2019

Made-in-China passenger jet set to take wing

Yahoo – AFP, Albee ZHANG, May 3, 2017

The C919's test flight comes after almost a decade of effort by Chinese
 authrorities to build a domestic aviation giant and reduce reliance on
Boeing and Airbus

China is expected within days to carry out the maiden test flight of a home-grown passenger jet built to meet soaring Chinese travel demand and challenge the dominance of Boeing and Airbus.

The C919, built by state-owned aerospace manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), was set to take wing over Shanghai and could be cleared for takeoff as early as Friday, according to state media.

The narrow-body jet represents nearly a decade of effort in a state-mandated drive to reduce dependence on European consortium Airbus and US aerospace giant Boeing.

"The first flight itself is not a huge deal. (But) of course, it's going to be a hugely symbolic moment in the evolution of China's aviation industry," said Greg Waldron, Asia managing editor at industry publication Flightglobal.

The C919 is the country's first big passenger plane and the latest sign of growing Chinese ambition and technical skill, coming one week after China launched its first domestically made aircraft carrier and successfully docked a cargo spacecraft with an orbiting space lab.

The C919 can seat 168 passengers and has a range of up to 5,555 kilometres (3,444 miles).

Long way to go

China is a huge battleground for Boeing and Airbus, with its travellers taking to the skies in ever-growing numbers.

China homegrown jet

The Chinese travel market is expected to surpass the United States by 2024, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Airbus has estimated Chinese airlines will need nearly 6,000 new planes over the next two decades, while Boeing foresees 6,800 aircraft. Both put the combined price tags for those planes at around $1 trillion.

But aviation analysts said Shanghai-based COMAC has a long journey ahead before it can challenge the lock held on the market by Boeing and Airbus.

"This is an important milestone for China with this new aircraft. But for it to move to the next stage, which is to sell this product, is not going to be so easy," said Shukor Yusof, an analyst with Malaysia-based aviation consultancy Endau Analytics.

But COMAC may be able to rely on purchases by fast-growing Chinese airlines as it looks to get sales off the ground.

COMAC had already received 570 orders by the end of last year, almost all from domestic airlines.

Waldron agreed it will take time, but said that over the next century China will become a world aviation player.

"You are going to have three big companies. You will have Boeing, you will have Airbus, and you will have COMAC," he said.

Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) had already 

received 570 orders by the end of last year, almost all from domestic airlines

China has dreamed of building its own civil aircraft since the 1970s, when it began work on the narrow-body Y-10, which was eventually deemed unviable and never entered service.

COMAC's first regional jet, the 90-seat ARJ 21, entered service in 2016, several years late.

Long-haul ambition

The ARJ 21 is currently restricted to flying Chinese domestic routes as it still lacks the crucial US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification that would allow it to fly US skies.

The C919's first test flight had been due to take place in 2016 but was delayed.

Besides the C919, China is also working with Russia to develop a long-haul wide-bodied jet called the C929.

Although the C919 is made in China, foreign firms are playing key roles by supplying systems as well as the engines, which are made by CFM International, a joint venture between General Electric (GE) of the US and France's Safran.

During a visit to COMAC in 2014, President Xi Jinping said not having a homegrown plane left China at the mercy of foreign industrial groups, state media reported at the time.

China last August launched a new multi-billion dollar jet-engine conglomerate with nearly 100,000 employees, with the hope of powering its own planes with self-made engines.

After the C919's first flight, it will still need to pass a series of tests to obtain Chinese airworthiness certification before it can sell the aircraft.

China also has for years been in talks with the FAA to obtain certification for both the ARJ 21 and the C919, without result.

#UPDATE Chinese-built large passenger plane takes off on maiden test flight https://t.co/ZCRMBzxaf9 pic.twitter.com/DcQ2rQZRaJ

— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 5, 2017