Ethiopain Airlines flight data recorder found

Details point to insubordination in cockpit

Travel Insurance News - 03/02/2010

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The flight data recorder of the downed Ethiopian Airlines aircraft, which crashed into the Mediterranean Sea just minutes after departing from

Beirut’s International Airport on Monday has been located, the airline said in a statement.

A spokesman for Ethiopian airlines said the flight data recorders will be salvaged in a matter of days. Until now, 26 bodies have been recovered from

the wreckage, including five which have been identified as Ethiopian passengers.

The Boeing 737-800 aircraft, once operated by Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair, was carrying 82 passengers and eight crew when it disappeared from radar screens.

Lebanon’s government has sent a team of investigators made up of members of Ethiopian Airlines and the Civil Aviation Authority.

A team has also been put together by Minister for Foreign Affairs, Seyoum Mesfin, with the team comprising of Communications and Transport Ministers and other government officials.

Details have come to light that the aircraft, which lost radio contact with controllers, did not obey instructions issued by the controller, and flew to the centre of a severe thunderstorm, before making an abnormal turn.

Aviation experts speculated that the severe storms in the area may have been a factor into the downing of the aircraft, similar to that of an Air France Airbus A330 flying to Paris from Rio De Janeiro which disappeared from radar screens and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean last year.

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