The March 10 crash of the of an Ethiopian Airlines flight that killed 157 people have brought out strong responses from governments of different countries as well as from airlines and aircraft investigative agencies.
The biggest decision after the crash was to ground all Boeing 737 Max 8 aircrafts which is a common thread between the crash of the Ethiopian Airlines flight and the crash in Indonesia which took place several weeks before. The crash inquiries stresses on preventing future calamities instead of playing the blame game. According to the international agreement called the Annex 13 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation the government of the country of the crash site takes the lead in the investigation. Governments of countries where the aircraft was registered, had been assembled and the government of the country where the airline is headquartered are all included in the investigation by law.
In this case, for instance, the Ethiopian investigators are being helped by the members of the U. S. National Transportation Safety Board along with countries like Kenya, France, Canada, China, Italy and the UK who are all involved in the case due to the loss of lives of their citizens.
There are stages to an investigation, for instance, first there is on-site checking for debris, human remains, blood samples and other things. After clicking photos and videos of the wreckage the investigators speak to eye-witnesses and survivors to understand the situation further. The remains of the plane are then brought to a hangar and assembled and data is also collected from the aircraft black box. According to the law, 30 days within the crash the investigating team is supposed to release a preliminary report to the International Civil Aviation Organization, the agency that overlooks commercial aviation issues and has links to the UN. The final report is generally filed within a year. A public hearing is also held to keep a transparent and clear picture on the happenings of the crash for the public.
The final report is generally released by the country which began the primary investigation, which is generally the country where the crash has taken place. The investigators are free to make recommendations as well if they see fit. It’s yet to be seen what comes out of this horrific incident when the investigation finishes.
