Ethiopia plans only interim 737 Max report amid probe

Bloomberg

An interim report into the deadly Boeing Co 737 Max crash in Ethiopia that led to the grounding of the US company’s top-selling model is set to be released in time for the first anniversary of the tragedy.
The report will be published by March 10, Ethiopian Transport Ministry spokesman Musie Yehyies told Bloomberg.
The decision not to release full findings, as targeted by the United Nations within a year of a crash, means it’s not clear how far the statement will go in reaching conclusions that might be damaging to Boeing, the US Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) or the flight’s operator, Ethiopian Airlines.
“We have a lot of data to analyse, we still have a lot of investigation to do,” Amdye Ayalew, Ethiopia’s chief crash investigator, said. With the interim statement, “we will inform the public on where we are with the investigation.”
Ethiopia has built aviation into a major industry, becoming a hub for flights across Africa in the process. That’s made the crash probe especially sensitive for a developing country seeking to uphold the standing of its national carrier.
Five months apart, the two crashes killed 346 people in total. Within days of the Ethiopian disaster, airline safety agencies across the globe discarded the long-held practice of following the lead of the FAA, the main certifying body for the 737 Max, and grounded the plane.
The interim statement will build on a preliminary crash report released 3 1/2 weeks after the Ethiopian crash, and eventually be supplanted by a final report. Investigators found pilots were confronted by a cascade of malfunctions and alarms, seconds after the flight left Addis Ababa.