Ethiopian Airline Pilot Ignored Control Tower Commands: Lebanon Ministers

(RTTNews) - Lebanon's Transportation Minister says the pilot of the ill-fated Ethiopian Airlines jet did not fly in the direction recommended by the airport control tower before it plunged into the Mediterranean on Monday minutes after take-off in heavy rains and storms from Beirut.

Ghazi Aridi said Tuesday the tower "asked him to correct, but then he did a very fast and strange turn" before disappearing from the radar. He was unable to say why that happened or whether it was beyond the pilot's control.

Confirming Aridi's statement, Defense Minister Elias Murr said a command tower recording showed the control tower told the pilot to turn to avoid the storm, but the plane went in the opposite direction.

As is customary with all airliners, the Boeing 737 also is equipped with its own on-board weather radar which the pilot may have used to avoid flying into the storm.

Officials have ruled out foul play and have almost given up hopes of anyone being found alive. Lebanese rescue teams have recovered 34 bodies from the wreckage of the airliner more than 24 hours after the crash. Searchers are trying to find the plane's black box and flight data recorder.

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 carrying 83 passengers and seven crew lost contact with the airport control tower shortly after take-off at 2:27 a.m. (0027 GMT) and crashed into the Mediterranean around 2:30 a.m. (0030 GMT).

The passengers included 54 Lebanese nationals, 22 Ethiopians, two British-Lebanese, an Iraqi, a Syrian, a Lebanese-Canadian and a Russian-Lebanese. Marla Pietton, wife of French ambassador to Lebanon Denis Pietto, was among those on board.

Both Ethiopia and Lebanon have declared a national day of mourning in memory of the dead.

by RTT Staff Writer

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com