THE Zimbabwean government has joined China, Indonesia and other world countries in blacklisting the American Boeing 737-Max 8 aircrafts after an Ethiopian air plane of the same make weekend crashed moments after take-off in Addis Ababa, killing all 157 passengers on board.
It was the aircraft’s second plane crash in just five months.
The first was last year in October when a Lion Air plane coming from Jakarta crashed into the Java Sea claiming 189 lives.
“A combination of malfunctioning sensors, an unfamiliar auto-diving software and inability to resist aerodynamic roughness in the lower atmosphere make the American Boeing 737-Max 8 prone to take-off and landing accidents. Always check the flight model before check in.
“While investigations around the plane crash involving Indonesian & Ethiopian planes are continuing, we would like to advise Zimbabwean citizens that we have classified the American-built Boeing 737-Max8 as an unsafe aircraft due to its malfunctioning auto-pilot software,” said deputy Minister of Information Energy Mutodi on Twitter.
Zimbabwe joins Chinese, Indonesian and the Ethiopian airlines in question who have all blacklisted the aircraft.
Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 crashed moments after take-off in Addis Ababa on its way to Nairobi on a farm just near Bole Airport, Mt Yerer in the North Eastern African country.
As investigations continue to ascertain the cause of the crash, further questions have been asked about safety of aircraft manufacturer Boeing’s 737-Max8.
More than 300 are understood to be flying across the world with some 5,000 orders having been made since 2017.
Zimbabwe’s faltering airliner mainly employs the use of Airbus aircrafts.
