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| Rescue teams work amidst debris after a Ukrainian plane carrying 176 passengers crashed near Imam Khomeini airport in the Iranian capital Tehran early in the morning on January 8, 2020, killing everyone on board (AFP Photo) |
New York (AFP) - The latest tragic plane crash involving another Boeing aircraft adds to the travails facing the company after its 737 MAX was grounded nearly a year ago following two deadly crashes.
Details
were limited Wednesday about the crash of a Ukraine International Airlines
plane, a Boeing 737-800, near Tehran that killed 176 people.
Yet the
latest bad news involving a Boeing plane weighed on company shares, which were
down 1.3 percent at $332.77 in early-afternoon trading.
The
incident could hardly have come at a worse time for Boeing, which is still
reeling from two MAX crashes that killed 346 people, causing its best-selling
plane to be grounded worldwide, and exposing the company to withering criticism
over its handling of the crisis.
Paul
Njoroge of Canada, who lost his family in the Ethiopian Airlines MAX crash,
said the UIA crash "brought a chill in my entire body" as he recalled
the MAX crash.
"The
737-800, the predecessor to the 737-MAX... has been seen to be reliable over
the years," Njoroge said in a statement released by his law firm.
"However,
any in-built technical issues cannot be tolerated. Could the crash be tied to
the crippled culture within Boeing? That is a hypothesis that should be
analyzed."
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The latest
tragic plane crash involving a Boeing model different from the grounded
MAX
adds to the travails facing the company after two deadly crashes (AFP
Photo/
MANDEL NGAN)
|
Cause of
crash unknown
However, aviation
analysts stressed that the two planes are different models and the crashes
should be considered separately.
Richard
Aboulafia of the Teal Group, a research consultancy focused on aviation and
defense, said the UIA crash is "tragic and the optics aren't good"
for Boeing, but the 737-800 model has an excellent record.
The airline
said the aircraft involved in the crash was built in 2016 and had been checked
only two days before the accident. It was Kiev-based UIA's first fatal crash.
There was
no immediate indication of foul play and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
warned against "speculating" on the cause of the disaster.
A statement
posted on the website of the Ukrainian embassy in Iran initially said the crash
was caused by an engine malfunction and ruled out an act of terror, but it was
later edited to say that all information will now be provided by an official
commission.
Aboulafia
said early statements blaming the crash on technical difficulties reflected
"an unbelievable degree of unprofessionalism" since they did not have
access to the plane's black box or pilot communications.
Scott
Hamilton of Leeham News said reports linking the UIA crash to the MAX crisis
"are irresponsible," adding that the 737-800 model is "a highly
reliable aircraft with thousands in service around the world."
Hamilton
said crash investigations routinely include studying the possibility of pilot
error, maintenance error, technical error, outside factors such as weather and
terrorism and foreign object ingestion.
Citing a
2018 Southwest Airlines incident in which an engine exploded, killing a
passenger, Hamilton said the plane's engine "has a history of uncontained
failures that must be considered."
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Analsyts
say it is irresponsible to link the crash of a Ukraine International Airline
Boeing 737-800 to the 737 MAX accidents (AFP Photo/INA FASSBENDER)
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Investigation faces roadblocks
Hostilities
between Washington and Tehran could impede the probe, which comes as President
Donald Trump vowed additional sanctions on Iran following Iranian missile
strikes on US troop bases in Iraq, which was in retaliation for Washington's
killing of an Iranian general.
Under a
protocol governing international aviation investigations, Iran should lead the
review, but the country that manufactured the aircraft and the country of the
airline that operated the plane also should have representatives involved in
the probe.
Normally
the US National Transportation Safety Board, the body charged with
investigating air accidents, would be involved as Boeing is based in the United
States, and likely would rely on experts from the manufacturer.
The NTSB is
monitoring developments around the crash and "following its standard
procedures for international aviation accident investigations, including
long-standing restrictions under the country embargoes," an NTSB spokesman
said.
"As
part of its usual procedures, the NTSB is working with the State Department and
other agencies to determine the best course of action."
Boeing
called the crash a "tragic event" on Twitter and said, "we are
ready to assist in any way needed."
A US
official said, "the US would have to be invited by the Iranians to
participate."
The head of
Iran Civil Aviation Organisation, Ali Abedzadeh, said while the Ukrainians were
free to participate in the probe into the crash, "we will not give the
black boxes to the manufacturer (Boeing) and the Americans," according to
the Mehr news agency.
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