LEBANESE MINISTER: PILOT IN CRASH OFF BEIRUT COAST DID NOT HEED CONTROL TOWER’S RECOMMENDATION
AZG DAILY
27-01-2010
International
The pilot of an Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed into the sea
minutes after takeoff flew in the opposite direction from the path
recommended by the Beirut control tower, Lebanon’s transportation
minister said Tuesday, according to AP.
The source reports that all 90 people on board were feared dead after
the plane went down in flames around at 2:30 a.m. Monday, during a
night of lightning and thunderstorms.
Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi told The Associated Press that
the tower had asked the pilot "to correct his path but he did a very
fast and strange turn before disappearing completely from the radar."
It was not clear why that happened or whether it was beyond the pilot’s
control. Like most other airliners, the Boeing 737 is equipped with
its own onboard weather radar which the pilot may have used to avoid
flying into thunderheads.
Lebanese officials have ruled out terrorism or "sabotage." The plane
was headed to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.