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An aviation expert explains how airplane crash investigations work

The accident investigation process is laid out by the standards and recommended practices in an international agreement called Annex 13 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation

Ethiopia, Ethiopian airlines
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Ethiopian Federal policemen stand at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Photo: Reuters

Daniel Kwasi Adjekum | The Conversation

The fatal crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 has resulted in the worldwide grounding of Boeing 737 Max aircraft. Investigators are probing the crash and another like it that occurred less than five months earlier in Indonesia.

As an experienced airline pilot, aircraft accident investigator and professor of aviation, I know that such major crash investigations are an enormous effort often involving many countries’ governments and input from dozens of industry partners. The inquiries can take months of painstaking work. They often yield important insights that improve flight safety