China and Ethiopia Ground Boeing 737 MAX 8 Jets After Deadly Airline Crash
FALLOUT
Beijing’s aviation officials noted similarities between doomed Ethiopian Airlines flight and last year’s Lion Air crash.
Thomas Peter/Reuters
China and Ethiopia have ordered all Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets operated by their country’s airlines temporarily grounded after 157 people were killed Sunday in a crash of one of the planes operated by Ethiopian Airlines. China's Civil Aviation Administration issued the order Monday, giving airlines until 6 p.m. local time to ground all such aircraft. The regulator also noted the similarities between the doomed Ethiopian flight, which went down shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa, and the Lion Air flight that crashed last December, with both of the aircraft going down in the takeoff phase. In total, 346 people were killed in the two crashes. Ethiopian Airlines announced Monday it would also ground its Max 8s as an “extra safety precaution.” While the cause of the Ethiopian Airlines tragedy has not yet been determined, investigators have said the Lion Air pilots encountered problems with the automatic flight-control system.
