The crashed Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max plane hit the ground at 575mph, leaving a crater 32 feet deep and 131 feet long, according to a preliminary government report.
The plane reached a speed that exceeded its design limits as the pilots rushed to follow Boeing's emergency procedures to stop the plane from nosediving.
The speed of the descent would have pulled passengers from their seats and may have made them feel weightless before they hit the ground, Reuters reported.
Boeing acknowledged on Thursday that a broken sensor triggered the plane's anti-stall software system, and said its fix software will ensure that it does not happen again.
The crashed Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max hit the ground at a speed of 575mph and left a crater 32 feet deep, according to a preliminary government report on the air crash. All 157 people on board died.
The plane's airspeed indicator reached 500 knots (roughly 575mph) just before the plane crashed, the 33-page report said. It had been in the air just six minutes.
Its impact in a field near Addis Ababa created a hole around 32 feet deep, 92 feet wide and 131 feet long, according to the report, which is subject to change as the investigation continues.
"This accident was not survivable," investigators bluntly concluded.
An image of the crater crated by the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max plane included in the preliminary report into the disaster. Air Accident Investigation Bureau
The plane's speed exceeded its design limits, Reuters reported. It was travelling so fast, experts told the news outlet, that it would have created negative G-forces inside the cabin.
Such extreme forces would have pulled passengers out of their seats, Reuters said, and could have induced a feeling of weightlessness before impact.
People stand near debris at the crash site of the Ethiopia Airlines flight in Ethiopia in March 2019. MICHAEL TEWELDE/AFP/Getty Images
Ethiopian Airlines' pilots followed Boeing's emergency procedures but were unable to control the plane and stop its nose from pointing down, the report said.
Ethiopia's Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges said "the crew performed all the procedures repeatedly provided by the manufacturer but was not able to control the aircraft" as she delivered the report on Thursday.
The report also said that the plane was considered airworthy before takeoff and that the pilots were fully certified to fly the plane.
The findings put pressure on Boeing, which is facing questions about its software and how its planes are certified.
Rescuers work at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines flight crash. Associated Press
Boeing acknowledged on Thursday that an erroneous AOA (angle-of-attack) sensor triggered the plane's MCAS anti-stall software system.
A similar error was was outlined in the preliminary report into the fatal Lion Air 737 Max 8 crash, which that killed all 189 people on board in October 2018.
The 737 Max has now been grounded around the world after the Ethiopian Airlines disaster.
The MCAS system is designed to prevent stalls by automatically pointing the nose of the plane downward if the plane senses the aircraft climbing too sharply.
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg. BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images
Boeing is working on a software update to the planes, which will be examined by the Federal Aviation Administration before being rolled out.
Boeing also faces an investigation by the US Department of Justice, with FBI involvement, into its development process.
The US Senate is also examining how the FAA allowed it to self-certify parts of its aircraft as part of a policy mandated by Congress.
Its CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, said on Thursday that Boeing is "sorry for the lives lost in the recent 737 MAX accidents,"
He said the company's top engineers and experts are working "to finalize and implement a software update that will ensure accidents like that of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 never happen again."
The crashed Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max plane hit the ground at 575mph, leaving a crater 32 feet deep and 131 feet long, according to a preliminary government report.
The plane reached a speed that exceeded its design limits as the pilots rushed to follow Boeing's emergency procedures to stop the plane from nosediving.
The speed of the descent would have pulled passengers from their seats and may have made them feel weightless before they hit the ground, Reuters reported.
Boeing acknowledged on Thursday that a broken sensor triggered the plane's anti-stall software system, and said its fix software will ensure that it does not happen again.
The crashed Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max hit the ground at a speed of 575mph and left a crater 32 feet deep, according to a preliminary government report on the air crash. All 157 people on board died.
The plane's airspeed indicator reached 500 knots (roughly 575mph) just before the plane crashed, the 33-page report said. It had been in the air just six minutes.
Its impact in a field near Addis Ababa created a hole around 32 feet deep, 92 feet wide and 131 feet long, according to the report, which is subject to change as the investigation continues.
"This accident was not survivable," investigators bluntly concluded.
An image of the crater crated by the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max plane included in the preliminary report into the disaster. Air Accident Investigation Bureau
The plane's speed exceeded its design limits, Reuters reported. It was travelling so fast, experts told the news outlet, that it would have created negative G-forces inside the cabin.
Such extreme forces would have pulled passengers out of their seats, Reuters said, and could have induced a feeling of weightlessness before impact.
People stand near debris at the crash site of the Ethiopia Airlines flight in Ethiopia in March 2019. MICHAEL TEWELDE/AFP/Getty Images
Ethiopian Airlines' pilots followed Boeing's emergency procedures but were unable to control the plane and stop its nose from pointing down, the report said.
Ethiopia's Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges said "the crew performed all the procedures repeatedly provided by the manufacturer but was not able to control the aircraft" as she delivered the report on Thursday.
The report also said that the plane was considered airworthy before takeoff and that the pilots were fully certified to fly the plane.
The findings put pressure on Boeing, which is facing questions about its software and how its planes are certified.
Rescuers work at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines flight crash. Associated Press
Boeing acknowledged on Thursday that an erroneous AOA (angle-of-attack) sensor triggered the plane's MCAS anti-stall software system.
A similar error was was outlined in the preliminary report into the fatal Lion Air 737 Max 8 crash, which that killed all 189 people on board in October 2018.
The 737 Max has now been grounded around the world after the Ethiopian Airlines disaster.
The MCAS system is designed to prevent stalls by automatically pointing the nose of the plane downward if the plane senses the aircraft climbing too sharply.
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg. BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images
Boeing is working on a software update to the planes, which will be examined by the Federal Aviation Administration before being rolled out.
Boeing also faces an investigation by the US Department of Justice, with FBI involvement, into its development process.
The US Senate is also examining how the FAA allowed it to self-certify parts of its aircraft as part of a policy mandated by Congress.
Its CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, said on Thursday that Boeing is "sorry for the lives lost in the recent 737 MAX accidents,"
He said the company's top engineers and experts are working "to finalize and implement a software update that will ensure accidents like that of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 never happen again."
Saudi authorities have not commented on the latest reports.
Who has been arrested?
The latest arrests are said to include at least six men and one woman, according to ALQST.
Among them is Khadijah al-Harbi, a pregnant feminist writer, and US-Saudi citizen Salah al-Haidar, whose mother was one of the activists recently freed.
The other US-Saudi national arrested was reportedly Badr al-Ibrahim - a writer and doctor.
All those named above are writers and social media bloggers previously engaged in public discourse on reforms. We believe their arrests have been orchestrated since February and are linked to their support for the women activists’ families.#StandWithSaudiHeroes
Scrutiny of Saudi Arabia's human rights record has intensified since the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last October.
Women's rights in Saudi Arabia have been an enduring focus of international concern, despite some public overtures toward reform from within the kingdom.
The World Economic Forum ranked Saudi Arabia number 141 out of 149 countries around the world for gender equality in 2018.
Saudi women still cannot travel, get married or open a bank account without a male guardian's permission.
Earlier this year, the case of a Saudi woman fleeing her family abroad gained high-profile attention.
Rahaf al-Qunun, 18, barricaded herself in a Bangkok hotel room after immigration officials tried to return her.
The teenager eventually received UN help and has since been granted asylum in Canada.
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/ Updated
By Alexander Smith
LONDON — British Prime Minister Theresa May has written to the European Union to request another extension to give her country more time to work out its ongoing Brexit deadlock.
She asked European Council President Donald Tusk on Friday to delay the divorce deadline until June 30, with the option to terminate the postponement if a deal is worked out before then.
"It is frustrating that we have not yet brought this process to a successful and orderly conclusion," May wrote.
E.U. leaders are due to meet Wednesday and all 27 must unanimously agree for May's request to be approved.
Tusk is in favor of the idea of a "flextension" but he wants a longer delay window of one year, Reuters and The Associated Press cited anonymous senior European officials as saying. NBC News could not immediately independently verify the reports.
No matter the length, any deferral would come as another twist in a crisis that has all but consumed the collective British consciousness.
Brits have spent the past two years gearing up for their European exit — either with eager expectation or fear — only to have it postponed once already, and now possibly again next week.
"This impasse cannot be allowed to continue," May wrote. "In the U.K. it is creating uncertainty and doing damage to faith in politics."
Under the current law, the U.K. is currently due to leave the E.U. next Friday — April 12 — which itself is an extension from the original withdrawal date of March 29.
"Having reluctantly sought an extension to the Article 50 period last month, the government must now do so again," May wrote Friday, referring to the Article 50 clause that sets out the U.K.'s European departure.
An extension of any length would mean the U.K. preparing to take part in European elections that are happening in May. In her letter the prime minister said that if possible she wanted to cut short the extension before that date by reaching an agreement with British lawmakers.
March 14, 201901:51
So far this has proved difficult to say the least. May has negotiated a deal with the E.U. but it has been repeatedly rejected by British lawmakers, who have also failed to rally around any other alternative plan.
Duterte's speech at a rally in the city of Puerto Princesa in Palawan came days after the Philippine government claimed as many as 275 Chinese boats and ships had been spotted in recent months around Manila's Thitu Island in the Spratly Island chain.
"Let us be friends, but do not touch Pagasa Island and the rest," Duterte said, according to CNN Philippines, using the Philippine word Pagasa for Thitu.
"If you make moves there, that's a different story. I will tell my soldiers, 'Prepare for suicide mission'."
Duterte said his words were not a warning, but rather "advice to my friends."
"I will not plead or beg, but I'm just telling you that lay off the Pag-asa because I have soldiers there," he said, according to CNN Philippines.
CNN has reached out to the Philippines government for further comment.
A small Philippine military garrison as well as about 100 civilians are based on Thitu, which lies about 500 kilometers (310 miles) from Palawan, one of the islands that make up the Philippines.
Tensions have risen since the start of 2019 in the South China Sea, one of the world's most disputed regions and an important shipping lane.
The Philippines and China each claim overlapping areas of the vast sea, along with multiple other countries including Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. The area where Thitu is located is also claimed by China as part of its territory.
The latest arrival of Chinese vessels around Thitu Island has provoked a stern response from Manila.
The Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs in a statement Thursday said their presence was "illegal" and a "clear violation of Philippine sovereignty."
"It has been observed that Chinese vessels have been present in large numbers and for sustained and recurring periods — what is commonly referred to as 'swarming' tactics — raising questions about their intent as well as concerns over their role in support of coercive objectives," the Philippine statement said.
Independent analysis by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) of the hundreds of vessels which have appeared around Thitu Island since January has determined they are composed of dozens of fishing vessels, as well as China Coast Guard ships and People's Liberation Army Navy ships.
When asked about the disputed island on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang pointed to a meeting between Philippine and Chinese representatives to discuss a bilateral consultation mechanism to avoid South China Sea conflicts.
"I believe that the consensus reached by the two sides through discussion in this meeting is the best answer to your question," he said.
Diplomacy and intimidation
To reinforce its claims to the South China Sea, China has built and militarized artificial islands and has attempted to undermine other countries' positions through a combination of diplomacy and intimidation.
Its aggressive moves in the region had antagonized previous Philippine administrations, which took Beijing to court to prove its claims over the sea.
But relations between China and the Philippines have warmed considerably since the 2016 inauguration of Duterte, who has pushed for a closer economic relationship with Beijing.
"I need China. More than anybody else at this point, I need China," Duterte said before flying to China in April 2018.
Compared with his predecessors, Duterte has viewed the dispute in the South China Sea as more negotiable than a matter of principle.
But China has been strengthening its hold over the region. In May 2018, Beijing announced it had successfully landed bombers on islands under its control for the first time, a big step in the militarization of the region.
The United States has also ramped up its freedom of navigation exercises in the region under US President Donald Trump, in an apparent attempt to hold back Chinese influence.
In a defiant statement to then-US Secretary of Defense James Mattis during a Beijing meeting in June 2018, President Xi Jinping said China wouldn't give up "any inch of territory."
Fishing vessels and naval ships
Philippines armed forces spokesperson Edgard Arevalo cautioned on Monday that it was difficult to quantify how many ships are around the island at any one time, as Chinese vessels "come and go" from the area.
In an article published in February, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative said the sudden increase in the number of ships between December and January appeared to be a response to reclamation and construction by the Philippines government.
"The fishing boats have mostly been anchored between 2 and 5.5 nautical miles west of Thitu, while the naval and coast guard ships operate slightly farther away to the south and west," the AMTI said in an article.
"The fishing vessels display all the hallmarks of belonging to China's maritime militia, including having no gear in the water that would indicate fishing activity and disabling their Automatic Identification System (AIS) transceivers to hide their activities."
AMTI noted that Thitu is only about 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers) from Subi Reef, one of the main places China has fortified in its recent buildup in the South China Sea.
The Philippines Foreign Ministry said on Thursday if the Chinese government didn't repudiate the actions of the fishing vessels in the vicinity of Thitu, it would be assumed to have directed them.
"The presence of Chinese vessels within the (island group), whether military, fishing or other vessels, will thus continue to be the subject of appropriate action by the Philippines," the statement said.
Duterte's administration has made threats of military action against Chinese troops in the South China Sea before which have come to nothing. In May 2018, his foreign minister threatened "war" if Beijing attempted to access the oil and gas reportedly buried beneath the sea.
PARIS/SEATTLE/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Minutes after take-off, the pilots of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX were caught in a bad situation.
FILE PHOTO: Ethiopian police officers walk past the debris of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 12, 2019. REUTERS/Baz Ratner/File Photo
A key sensor had been wrecked, possibly by a bird strike. As soon as they retracted the landing gear, flaps and slats, it began to feed faulty data into the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), designed to prevent stalls.
Flying faster than recommended, the crew struggled with MCAS. But the high speed made it nearly impossible to use the controls to pull the nose up.
Moments later, the Boeing Co jet hit the ground, killing all 157 people onboard after six minutes of flight.
Ethiopian authorities said on Thursday that the pilots followed all the correct procedures in trying to keep MCAS from sending the plane into a fatal dive.
But the full picture of what happened in the cockpit of Flight 302 on March 10 is emerging from a preliminary report and a newly released data plot showing how crew and technology interacted.
The airline’s youngest-ever captain, a 29-year-old with an impressive 8,100 hours flying time, and his rookie 25-year-old co-pilot may have made a crucial mistake by leaving the engines at full take-off power, according to data and other pilots.
By the end, the aircraft was traveling at 500 knots (575 mph, 926 kph), far beyond its design limits.
That and some other potential missteps may have left them unable to fight flawed Boeing software that eventually sent the jet into an uncontrollable dive, experts said after studying the data.
“Power being left in take-off power while leveling off at that speed is not a normal procedure,” said one U.S. pilot, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media. “I can’t imagine a scenario where you’d need to do that.”
The Ethiopian Airlines crash, and another in Indonesia five months earlier, have left the world’s largest planemaker in crisis as its top-selling jetliner is grounded worldwide, and Ethiopia scrambling to protect one of Africa’s most successful companies.
Boeing is working on a software fix for MCAS and extra pilot training, which its chief executive, Dennis Muilenburg, said would prevent similar events from happening again.
BIRD STRIKE
Sources who reviewed the crash data said the problems started barely 12 seconds after take-off.
A sudden data spike suggests a bird hit the plane as it was taking off and sheared away a vital airflow sensor.
As with the Lion Air crash in Indonesia, the damaged ‘angle of attack’ sensor, which tells pilots what angle the aircraft has relative to its forward movement, may have set off a volatile chain of events.
In both cases, the faulty sensor tricked the plane’s computer into thinking the nose was too high and the aircraft was about to stall, or lose lift. The anti-stall MCAS software then pushed the nose down forcefully with the aircraft’s “trim” system, normally used to maintain level flight.
The first time the MCAS software kicked in, the Ethiopian Airlines pilots quickly countered the movement by flicking switches under their thumbs - they had recognized the movements as the same type all flight crews had been warned about after the Lion Air flight.
But data suggest they did not hold the buttons down long enough to fully counteract the computer’s movements. At that point, they were a mere 3,000 feet above the airport, so low that a new warning - a computerized voice saying “don’t sink” - sounded in the cabin.
When MCAS triggered again, the jetliner’s trim was set to push the nose down at almost the maximum level, while the control yoke noisily vibrated with another stall warning called a “stick shaker.”
This time, the pilots countered MCAS more effectively. But when they turned off the system - as they were instructed to do by Boeing and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the wake of the Lion Air disaster - the nose was still pointed downward, leaving the jetliner vulnerable.
The combination of excess speed and cutting off the system while the plane was still leaning downwards meant up to 50 pounds of force would be needed to move the control column, and moving the manual trim wheels was impossible.
‘PULL UP, PULL UP’
The captain called out “pull up” three times. The co-pilot reported problems to air traffic control.
In the meantime, the aircraft’s speed remained abnormally high.
The bird strike and loss of airflow data would have affected airspeed information too. In such cases, pilots know to turn off automatic engine settlings and control thrust manually.
But the report says “the throttles did not move,” without elaborating. Data confirms the engines stayed at nearly full power. Other 737 pilots say that made the crew’s job tougher by making the controls much harder to move.
Some experienced pilots said there were an array of stressful factors sapping the pilots’ attention, which Muilenburg addressed on Thursday.
“As pilots have told us, erroneous activation of the MCAS function can add to what is already a high-workload environment,” Muilenburg said. “It’s our responsibility to eliminate this risk. We own it and we know how to do it.”
Among the distractions was a “clacker” warning telling the pilots their aircraft was going too fast.
As the nose gradually fell, the pilots turned to a last-resort device to adjust the plane’s trim.
The captain asked the young co-pilot to try to trim the plane manually using a wheel in the center console to lift the nose and make it easier to recover from the dive.
But it was too hard to move the wheel. Both men then tried to pitch the nose up together. The captain, according to the report, said it was not enough.
MCAS RE-ACTIVATES
In a possible last-ditch attempt to level the plane, data suggests the pilots turned MCAS-related systems back on. That would also reactivate the electric trim system, and perhaps make it easier for the pilots to force the reluctant nose higher.
Reactivating MCAS is contrary to advice issued by Boeing and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration after Lion Air. The report did not address that.
The pilots managed to lift the nose slightly using the electric thumb switches on their control yokes. But data suggest they may have flicked the switches too gingerly.
With its power restored, a final MCAS nose-down command kicked in, eventually pushing the nose down to a 40 degree angle at an airspeed of up to 500 knots, far beyond the plane’s operating limits.
FILE PHOTO: Engine parts are seen at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri/File Photo
As the 737 MAX plunged, G-forces turned negative, pulling occupants out of their seats and possibly inducing a feeling of weightlessness as the plane hurtled toward the ground.
Just six minutes after take off, the plane crashed into a field.
Additional reporting by Jason Neely in Addis Ababa, Tracy Rucinski in Chicago, David Shepardson in Washington, Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Gerry Doyle
A flurry of Brexit activity early Friday morning saw both the EU and the U.K. move to lengthen the current timetable for negotiations, reducing the prospect of Britain exiting the bloc without a deal.
First, European Council President Donald Tusk proposed allowing the U.K. a 12-month "flexible" extension to leave the European Union, an EU source told CNBC. Tusk's proposal, first reported by the BBC, would allow the U.K. the flexibility to leave the EU whenever British lawmakers approve and ratify a deal within the 12-month period.
However, leaders of the political and economic bloc would need to agree to Tusk's plan at a summit next week.
Later on Friday morning, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May officially asked the EU another short extension. A letter from May to Tusk proposes an extension to June 30, which could be terminated early if a deal is agreed. A report from Reuters said the latter mentioned preparations for the U.K. to hold EU elections in late May.
At the moment, the U.K. is scheduled to leave the EU on April 12 and will be the first country to leave the bloc. The process to take the U.K. officially out of the EU began two years ago, but has yet to be finalized. U.K. parliamentarians have so far rejected the deal that Prime Minister Theresa May negotiated with the EU three times.
When asked about a possible extension, German Finance Minister and Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz said: "Hopefully, in the end we will have an agreement, because this is the best outcome for all the things that are going to happen."
Bruno Le Maire, the French finance minister, said the U.K. needs to have a very good reason to ask for another extension.
"If we are not able to understand the reason of why the U.K. is asking for an extension, we can't give a positive answer," he told CNBC's Silvia Amaro in Bucharest Friday, before May's letter was officially sent to Tusk.
Meanwhile, May is expected to write to opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn to lay out her administration's offer on Brexit, the Guardian reported on Thursday. The letter would include a proposal to offer lawmakers the option to hold a referendum on any Brexit deal, the report said.
— CNBC's Silvia Amaro and Stevie Young contributed to this report.
