Boeing 737 MAX 8 fleets grounded after crash; black box found

DPA, 11th MARCH, 2019 - The black box from a doomed Ethiopian Airlines flight was found on Monday, as concerns grew around the world about the safety of the type of Boeing plane involved in the crash.

The black box “has been found but it is partially damaged. We will see what we can retrieve from it,” an Ethiopian Airlines official, who asked not to be named, told dpa.

The airline also confirmed the find of the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder in a statement. Ethiopia, China and Indonesia have grounded their Boeing 737 MAX 8 fleets in the wake of the disaster that killed 157 people at the weekend. The Nairobi-bound plane went down shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It was the second tragedy involving the same Boeing model in just over four months, after a crash in Indonesia in late October. Ethiopian Airlines said in a statement it was grounding the planes as an “extra safety precaution.”

“Following the tragic accident... Ethiopian Airlines has decided to ground all B-737-8 MAX fleet effective yesterday March 10, 2019 until further notice,” it said. 
“Although we don’t yet know the cause of the accident, we had to decide to ground the particular fleet as [an] extra safety precaution.”

China announced that its aviation authority had grounded all Boeing 737 Max jets, pending further investigation.

Chinese airlines have 96 Boeing 737 MAX 8 in use, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
Indonesia also decided to ground all 11 of its planes, the Transportation Ministry announced.