Some countries ground Boeing 737 MAX 8s after Ethiopia crash

CHINA and Indonesia grounded their fleets of Boeing's 737 MAX 8 aircraft today (11) as witnesses recalled the terrifying spectacle of smoke and debris trailing from an Ethiopian Airlines plane before it crashed killing 157 people.

The Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max 8 plunged into farmland minutes after take-off from Addis Ababa for Nairobi yesterday (10).

The victims came from over 30 nations and included 22 United Nations' staff.

"The plane was very close to the ground and it made a turn. We looked and saw papers falling off the plane," Malka Galato, the farmer whose land the plane crashed on, said from the rural area where horse-drawn carriages ply rough roads.

"Cows that were grazing in the fields ran in panic ... There was smoke and sparks coming from the back of the plane."

The plane tried to climb but failed, then swerved sharply trailing white smoke and objects including clothes before crashing, said farmer Tamirat Abera, who was walking nearby.

Investigators seeking to find the cause of the crash discovered the black box with both the cockpit voice recorder and digital flight data today, Ethiopian state TV said.

Ethiopian Airlines, which has four other 737 MAX 8 jets, said it was grounding them as a precaution. China also ordered its airlines to suspend their 737 MAX 8 jets by 6pm.

Noting that the accidents involving newly delivered planes had both taken place shortly after take-off, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said it would notify airlines when they could resume flying the jets, after contacting Boeing and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Indonesia, where a Lion Air 737 Max 8 went down in October, also said it would temporarily ground the model for inspection.

Cayman Airways grounded both of its new 737 MAX 8 jets temporarily too, while India announced a safety review.

At the crash site, men in Red Cross jackets and face masks picked through a large crater, stacking clothes in a heap on one side and wrapping corpses in white body bags.

"Our colleagues were women and men - junior professionals and seasoned officials - hailing from all corners of the globe," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

"They all had one thing in common - a spirit to serve the people of the world and to make it a better place for us all."

Ethiopian Airlines said its pilot Yared Getachew, who was a dual Ethiopian-Kenyan national, had a "commendable record" and more than 8,000 hours of flying experience.

The airplane was received in November 2018, had flown more than 1,200 hours.

The flight had unstable vertical speed after take-off, the flight tracking website Flightradar24 tweeted. The Sweden-based service said the jet had climbed almost 1,000 feet after taking off from Addis Ababa, a hot and high-altitude airport whose thinner air requires extra effort from an aircraft's engines.

It dipped about 450 feet before rapidly climbing another 900 feet until the point where satellite tracking data was lost.

(Reuters)