Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 was an international commercial flight scheduled from
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
to
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...
that crashed into the
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
shortly after
takeoff
Takeoff is the phase of flight in which an aerospace vehicle leaves the ground and becomes airborne. For aircraft traveling vertically, this is known as liftoff.
For aircraft that take off horizontally, this usually involves starting with a t ...
from
Rafic Hariri International Airport Rafic may refer to:
* Rafic Charaf (1932–2003), Lebanese painter
*Rafic Hariri (1944–2005), Prime Minister of Lebanon, 1992–1998 and 2000–2004
* Rafic Nahra (born 1959), Lebanese priest of the Catholic Church
* Mayan Rafic (born 1995), Isra ...
on 25 January 2010, killing all 90 people on board. This was the first fatal crash for Ethiopian Airlines since the hijack of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 in 1996.
registration
Register or registration may refer to:
Arts entertainment, and media Music
* Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc.
* ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller
* Registration (organ), th ...
ET-ANB, s/n 29935. It had its maiden flight on 18 January 2002, and was delivered new to
Ryanair
Ryanair is an Irish ultra low-cost carrier founded in 1984. It is headquartered in Swords, Dublin, Ireland and has its primary operational bases at Dublin and London Stansted airports. It forms the largest part of the Ryanair Holdings family ...
on 4 February 2002 as EI-CSW. Stored in , Ethiopian Airlines took delivery of the aircraft on 12 September 2009, leased from CIT Aerospace. Provided with twin CFM56-7B26 powerplants, the airframe last underwent maintenance checks on 25 December 2009 without any technical problems found. It was old at the time the accident took place.
The captain was 44-year-old Habtamu Benti Negasa, who had been with Ethiopian Airlines since 1989. He was one of the airline's most experienced pilots having logged 10,233 flight hours, including 2,488 hours on the Boeing 737. The first officer was 23-year-old Aluna Tamerat Beyene. He was far less experienced than the captain, having worked for Ethiopian Airlines for only a year and having 673 flight hours, 350 of them on the Boeing 737.
Accident
The Boeing 737 took off from runway 21 at
Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport
Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport (Arabic: مطار رفيق الحريري الدولي بيروت, (previously known as Beirut International Airport) () is the only operational commercial airport in Lebanon, which is located in the ...
in stormy weather, with 82 passengers and eight crew members on board. The
METAR
METAR is a format for reporting weather information. A METAR weather report is predominantly used by aircraft pilots, and by meteorologists, who use aggregated METAR information to assist in weather forecasting.
Raw METAR is the most common form ...
data indicated
wind speed
In meteorology, wind speed, or wind flow speed, is a fundamental atmospheric quantity caused by air moving from high to low pressure, usually due to changes in temperature. Wind speed is now commonly measured with an anemometer.
Wind speed ...
s of from varying directions, with
thunderstorms
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are someti ...
in the vicinity of the airport. The aircraft climbed erratically to ,stalled and entered a spiral dive to the left.
Radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...
contact was lost a few seconds before it crashed into the
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
EET
"Eet" is a song from Regina Spektor's fifth studio album, ''Far (album), Far''. It was released as the album's second official single in October 2009. In Europe it was released as a digital download on November 27, 2009.
Music video
A Viral vide ...
), four or five minutes after take off. Witnesses near the coast reported seeing the aircraft on fire as it crashed into the sea.
Search and recovery
On the morning following the crash, Lebanese authorities reported locating the crash site off the coast from the village of
Na'ameh
Na'ameh ( ar, الناعمة), or Haret en Naameh ( ar, حارة الناعمة, links=no), is a Lebanon, Lebanese coastal town located in the Chouf District, an administrative division of the Mount Lebanon Governorate. Naameh was the site of G ...
, in of water. The search for survivors was carried out by the
Lebanese Army
)
, founded = 1 August 1945
, current_form = 1991
, disbanded =
, branches = Lebanese Ground ForcesLebanese Air Force Lebanese Navy
, headquarters = Yarze, Lebanon
, flying_hours =
, websit ...
, using
Sikorsky S-61
The Sikorsky S-61L and S-61N are civil variants of the Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King, SH-3 Sea King military helicopter. It was developed and produced by the American helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft.
The commercial version of the Sea King w ...
helicopters, the
Lebanese Navy
The Lebanese Navy ( ar, القوات البحرية اللبنانية ''Al-qūwātu al-Baḥriyya al-Lubnāniyya'', literally "the Lebanese Sea Forces") is the Navy of the Lebanese Armed Forces. It was formed in 1950 and based in Beirut Naval Bas ...
and
UNIFIL
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon ( ar, قوة الأمم المتحدة المؤقتة في لبنان, he, כוח האו"ם הזמני בלבנון), or UNIFIL ( ar, يونيفيل, he, יוניפי״ל), is a UN peacekeeping m ...
troops. The U.S. military, in response to a request from the Lebanese government, sent the guided missile destroyer , a Navy
Lockheed P-3 Orion
The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engined, turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner.Bozcaada'') and two helicopters to the scene. Further helicopters were sent by the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
, and the
Cyprus Police
The Cyprus Police (Greek: ), is the National Police Service of the Republic of Cyprus and is under the Ministry of Justice and Public Order since 1993.
The duties and responsibilities of the Cyprus Police are set out in the amended Police Law ( ...
aviation unit.
On 7 February, Lebanese Army divers recovered the plane's
flight data recorder
A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has b ...
and
cockpit voice recorder
A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has b ...
(CVR). The CVR was missing a memory storage unit when found. This was reported on 16 February as having been recovered. All were sent to the French ''
Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile
The Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA, ) is an agency of the French government, responsible for investigating aviation accidents and incidents and making safety recommendations based on what is learned from those inve ...
'' (BEA) for analysis.
All the deceased were recovered from the sea by 23 February. The recovered bodies were sent to the
Rafik Hariri University Hospital
The Rafik Hariri University Hospital ( ar, مستشفى رفيق الحريري الجامعي, RHUH) – formerly known as Beirut Governmental University Hospital (BGUH) – is the largest Lebanese public hospital, located on the outskirts of s ...
in Beirut for DNA testing and identification. They were all identified by the end of February.
Boeing
The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...
, and the
National Transportation Safety Board
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incid ...
of the United States.
Lebanese President
The President of the Lebanese Republic ( ar, رئيس الجمهورية اللبنانية, rayiys aljumhuriat allubnania; french: Président de la République Libanaise) is the head of state of Lebanon. The president is elected by the parliame ...
Michel Suleiman
Michel Suleiman ( ar, ميشال سليمان ; born 21 November 1948) is a Lebanese Maronite Christian politician who served as President of Lebanon from 2008 to 2014. Before becoming president, he served as commander of the Lebanese Armed Force ...
stated before the flight data recorders were found that the crash was not due to terrorism. Lebanese Information Minister Tarek Mitri rejected the notion that the aircraft should not have been allowed to take off under the current weather conditions, stating that "many" other aircraft had taken off during the time period.
The final investigation report released by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Works and Transport, presented on 17 January 2012, stated that "the probable causes of the accident were the flight crew's mismanagement of the aircraft's speed, altitude, headings and attitude through inconsistent flight control inputs resulting in a loss of control and their failure to abide by CRM /nowiki>
The_crash_was_dramatized_in_the_twelfth_series_of_the_Canadian_documentary_''Mayday_(Canadian_TV_series).html" "title="Crew_Resource_Management.html" ;"title="Crew_Resource_Management.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Crew Resource Management">/nowiki>Crew Resource Management">Crew_Resource_Management.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Crew Resource Management">/nowiki>Crew Resource Management/nowiki> principles of mutual support and calling deviations".
Ethiopian Airlines stated the airline "strongly refutes" the report, and that it "was biased, lacking evidence, incomplete and did not present the full account of the accident". The airline wrote in a press release issued the same day as the investigation report that the halting of flight data and cockpit voice recording at 1,300 feet, the disappearance of the aircraft from radar at that time, and the eyewitness reports of a fireball "clearly indicate that the aircraft disintegrated in the air due to explosion, which could have been caused by a shoot-down, sabotage, or lightning strike." The Lebanese CAA report had noted that eyewitnesses, including an air traffic controller and a crew flying in the vicinity of Flight 409, had reported seeing an "orange light", "an orange explosion", or "a ball of fire" at the time and toward the location the aircraft crashed into the sea; but concluded "No sign of any explosion or fire were detected on the wreckage" or "during the autopsies carried on some of the bodies". It speculated that the impression of an explosion may have been caused by the aircraft lights during the aircraft's last steep dive; or by the "thunderstorm activities in the area".
Passengers and crew
Ethiopian Airlines issued the following list of the nationalities of the victims:
A memorial ceremony was held at the Ethiopian Airlines premises in Addis Ababa on 14 February 2010.
In the media
The crash was dramatized in the twelfth series of the Canadian documentary ''Mayday (Canadian TV series)">Mayday
Mayday is an emergency procedure word used internationally as a distress signal in voice-procedure radio communications.
It is used to signal a life-threatening emergency primarily by aviators and mariners, but in some countries local organiza ...
'' (also known as ''Air Emergency'' or ''Air Crash Investigation''). It is titled "Heading to Disaster". The episode re-creates the crash based on the Lebanese investigators' final report.
See also
* Ethiopian Airlines accidents and incidents
*Colgan Air Flight 3407, another accident where two overtired pilots lost control of their aircraft.
Ethiopian Civil Aviation Agency
The Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority (ECAA, am, የኢትዮጵያ ሲቪል ኤቪዬሽን ባለሥልጣን) is an agency of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Government of Ethiopia. It was established under Proclamation ...
Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile
The Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA, ) is an agency of the French government, responsible for investigating aviation accidents and incidents and making safety recommendations based on what is learned from those inve ...
Naharnet
Naharnet is one of the first Lebanese online media after ''An Nahar'' newspaper was online in September 1995. It was launched in September 2000. At its initial phase it was a portal and virtual community for Lebanese and Arabs everywhere.